The Most Important Question in Life Answered

Oh such meaning of life! I am posting this blog firstly to answer the question that two people asked me on Facebook. What is the purpose of the runway? The second because it’s way too long to post as a FB status and thought it would be fun to post this to end the year 2013 with something frivolous as posting about the purpose of the fashion runway.

It is pretty ridiculous some of those designs that will never make it to the floors of your local Walmart. Recently I watched about 3 minutes of the Victoria’s Secret “Angel” Fashion Show which was sort of a cross between a concert, a PR stunt and porn. Peacocks on stilts really. The girls are beautiful. The designs...eh. Not that special. Mostly because I know for a fact that they were probably hot glued together with feathers. More than that...I wondered how they got rid of the body hair they didn’t have. I don’t really want to know. It sounds too painful.

I was attracted to fashion at 13 years old watching Elsa Klench on Sat mornings before Bugs Bunny came on. I idolized names like Alexander McQueen, Vivian Westwood, Betsy Johnson, Donna Karan, Todd Oldham and Missoni. There was this incredible showing of clothes and you never saw the creator of the masterpieces until the end, and humbly take a bow. I loved the conversations about the fabrics, the details, stitching, quality, tailoring like french cuffs and peplums that swang such a way when the model walked. I took a sewing class in high school and fell in love with the sewing machine. I absorbed my art classes like a dry sponge being dipped into a bucket of water for the first time. Mostly it was an escape from chemistry and math class which I still think I am allergic to because I’ve needed a calculator during a recent game of Adventuretime Monopoly. But I digress.

The answer to the gnawing question: What is the purpose of runway fashion?

It’s basically the salon of fashion. The designers show the most amazing creations, wow the buyers and media and the Saudi Arabian sikhs that can afford to buy a $32,000 camel hair coat. It’s the fashion olympics. Most of the clothes, true never make it to the stores. But think if they DID. It would be like living in a virtual Dr. Seuss land!

For creatives, this is where dreams are made in their sculpting mediums: cloth and a sewing machine. For the fashion industry, it fuels the billions of dollars that interprets the trends in society that get translated into a palatable and functional form of creativity. Clothes that we actually wear. I mean let’s face it...you can’t wear fine art that is hanging in Moma can you? You can’t wear a cleverly coded video game, nor a well constructed film or an abstract sculpture. When people are given, invited or purchase tickets to a runway show they are expected to be wowed. BUT the reality is, even people like Isaac Mizrahi and Kate Spade make the bulk of their buck on QVC and HSN. Not all fashion shows are insane with juggling monkeys. However for the fashion designer, the stores, the media and projectionists (even economic trendoids like INVESTORS) need to basically show the greater public what they are going to “offer” the runway becomes the deadline for high couture (custom ordered) and RTW: ready to wear. Because their career depends on several big time deadlines (like how much fabric to order) for the market “showing” their craft and launchpad is the runway. 

For example, “I am offering this incredible camel hair coat for FALL, if you want it, order it by April 1st or you don’t get it. If you are a size 18 the price might go up since the price of camel hair produced in the himalayas might go from 300 to 900 bucks a yard depending on the status of inter tribal warfare or gas prices to ship it by air to Saudia Arabia.” Plus if it’s couture that means FITTINGS for customized fashion. For RTW orders on how much fabric, trimmings and quanity to produce need to be PROJECTED. For the masses...you have to sit and wait for the media and trend services to basically say,“hot item was a camel hair coat by Lisa Vote” because it made it to the floors of Saks. By the time camel hair coats that Lisa Vote offered in March as the next hot trendy item, it’s been about a year since first sighted on the runway but people are screaming for them in Walmart NOW! They will not pay $32,000 for a couture camel hair coat. They want it for $12.99 on rollback! It trickles down just like economics. Do Walmart store buyers go to runway shows? No, but their CEOs do, their investors do and so do the media moguls. The celebrities that are given (for FREE) that $32K camel hair coat to wear to the Oscars so that we crave camel hair coats subconsciously and start seeing EVERYONE in them are seated FRONT and CENTER at the shows. Plus,the factories in China don’t design camel hair coats, they just manufacture it for LESS so that everyone can have one. The same camel hair coat with $900 a yard fabric that wowed Saks to order 12 to be tailored for their VIP clients will be modified to be mass produced for Walmart with $1.99 100% poly/acrylic, made in China for $2.00 and on the floor for November just in time for black friday!

But this nuts and bolts of the fashion runway economics explained. However, for the fashion designer. It’s when you know you made it. A successful runway show, no matter how wackadoo shows are it’s about what you can do with a piece of fabric and building your brand. After a successful show however, It also comes away with palatable investors (this is why Mr. Moneybags seated front and center and NOT your Aunt Margaret) and actual orders that launch or sustain your BRAND thus your survival as a fashion designer.  If your brand has your name on it, it’s your name out there. There’s a saying that was drummed into us in school and the industry to make us FEAR the results of the runway.

You are only as good as your last collection.

This is what propels designers to create but it also makes you afraid of the aftermath. Your job is on the line. Literally. When I worked in fashion, the most satisfying thing for me was to see my clothes in a store. Even more if I walked down the street and saw someone wearing what I designed. BUT that rarely happened because I worked in lingerie. Okay maybe once I saw a drag queen with a bra I made on Christopher Street...that had a bit of a cringe effect. But I do take credit for “inventing” the garter thong. My boss rewarded me with a trip to Paris/London because we got a huge order from Victoria’s Secret. I still love fashion. Even the ridiculousness of it. The crazier the better. We had another saying at my job in the lingerie industry that alleviated much stress when under deadlines.

It’s only underwear.

So the next time you see those super models swagger down the runway just remember there’s someone behind the clothes that spent countless hours planning, sketching, cutting, sewing, stitching, and promoting that $32,000 camel hair coat the masses will want for $12.99 on rollback in Walmart.

Happy New Year and I hope it’s a fashionable one!!

The Dog Days of Christmas

A bit of a ditty here as if I haven’t written, typed enough in the last two weeks for school however, I feel compelled to write something other than citations of academic journals and reading turn of the century theologians today. Plus, everything is covered in ice, the sky is a dreary gray and I have errands to run but procrastinating because simply put- I have that “now what” feeling after a whole semester of school. Christmas is coming and now I can deck the halls with some holly.

So, despite all the holly jolly of the season I am stating here that we are officially in the dog days of Christmas. Such anticipation hurls many of us into the new year with a big fat let down in January. Cold, frozen and more gray skies, bills come in, resolutions already broken and yet we have longer days and the hope of spring. For years when I lived in New York I loved December because the store windows, lights and atmosphere pumped with exciting anticipation. I tried to avoid going into Macy on a lunch hour however, but couldn’t resist seeing the amazing creative displays in the stores. My inner calendar while working in fashion was set to when new merchandise comes into the stores. This is how my brain still at times reverts. What I’ve noticed about myself in recent years is how my rhythm of life is so integrated to world that I’ve noticed needing constant awareness this is not how God intended my life to be. Christmas without all the anticipation and sparkle is very dreary and Hanukkah without the progression of light is just simply dark and boring but, I have become also aware that the same “blahzay” feeling every year comes over me in December. I think because yet again Christmas gets turned into a culture war quite too often and that we take some things way too seriously and yet on the other hand it feeds our culture of materialism so I often choose not to engage because it’s just “yuck”.

One child, who shall remain nameless here, a couple years ago said to my kids Santa wasn’t real and projected that it was Jesus’s birthday on Dec 25 quite adamantly. I didn’t have the heart to crush his view but thought how it’s okay for point out one aspect of truth with another “suggestive fact” that simply is not true. I also have had kids say to my children God is not real, yet they believe in Santa. See the irony in this? This is why I call it the dog days of Christmas because when religious mistruths get turned into something political or cultural to judge others or take a cultural stand it just turns into pride and division. This is not what God had intended in spreading the GOOD NEWS. 

It’s okay to engage in culture- in fact, God commands it. “Be in the world but not OF the world”. This really does mean to live in the world, engage, celebrate, be jolly, deck the halls but as SpongeBob says, “don’t be a jerk, it’s Christmas time!”. Worship of our Savior was meant to be a lifestyle fully engaged in society yet not fall prey to the deceptions of the world system of this age. As I’ve said in past posts. I let my kids believe in Santa. I don’t see it as I’m lying to them because they come to logical conclusions with "critical thinking" on their own when we drop big sloppy hints that Santa like Vegemite and beer just like their Dad does. I believed in Santa and it “felt” a lot like faith until I saw that Santa had the same handwriting as my Mom. I didn't loose any faith once I had figured out my Dad ate the cookies while Mom stuffed the stockings. I became actually more in tune with my faith. God also is not Santa. I had an imaginary friend that was an elephant, and ask my Mom...that was real to me too. I was 3 years old with an imaginary friend that believed in Santa. I think that's normal for 3 years old.

Christmas can be fun, it’s the anticipation of something good even if it’s just Trader Joe’s egg nog ice cream and it’s also when we can sigh a big relief that longer sunny days are ahead of us in Spring. But as someone who does believe in who Jesus claimed to be, awaiting our Savior's to return is the greatest anticipation we who do believe in who Jesus was can and should have everyday.

Getting Past Halloween

I personally do not like Halloween. It’s the time of year that starts with trick or treating then it’s a candy fest all the way until Valentine’s Day. I gain 10 pounds just supervising the holidays. My kids love Halloween because they go door to door, with their friends and get candy...lots of it. For every time I say “no” in the grocery store, Halloween seems to make up for any restraint in one night. My kids love dressing up. I do have boundaries, no gore, no evil dudes that would scare even the old people in the neighborhood. We do our best to downplay the frenzy mostly because I don’t want to spend money. I don’t spend my time decorating the house for any holiday except maybe Christmas and even that has lost it’s appeal to me over the years simply because of it’s commercial overtones mixed with cheap crap from China. I do like eatable gourds that last until December so it's pretty much pumpkin season.

When I grew up, I remember hearing a pastor preach about the roots of Halloween and thinking “I don’t want to be a part of that!” and many churches withdrew from the All Hallows Eve by doing alternative events such as Harvest parties or roller skating. My sweetest memory on Halloween was my Mom taking us ice skating and giving us candy. I never felt deprived. But our house also got egged occasionally and the night before Halloween in my neighborhood was an excuse to be destructive and disturb the very elderly people we would be knocking on their door and asking for treats after “devil’s night”. I was made fun of and bullied for not celebrating Halloween. I remember in fourth grade, a group boys relentlessly poked fun at me to the point of tears. Sometimes my mom would take me out of school on that day to ease that pressure, but still the comments came. Could you imagine people making fun of a jew for not participating in Christmas? Well, now you get the point.

This is weird stuff of the 70s that I try to block out of my memory.

I think culturally at this point many people of my generation that don’t know what to do with Halloween, now that we have children begging for costumes and candy especially if you grew up trick or treating. I think it's worse to navigate if you didn’t because there always is that looming information behind every fact and symbol. Participating in Halloween is for every parent to decide for themselves, based on I believe their maturity and discernment for where and how they live. I really to appreciate so many discipleship and missional blogs, resources, and posts that have been helpful to me personally to sort through some of my past understanding of Halloween and use it for His Glory. http://thegospelcoalition.org/

It’s true that Halloween has dark underpinnings, but if you dig deep enough even Christmas has a dark pagan history. The reason for this post is basically to state that although I do see an increase of the severity, the horror and demonizing theme of Halloween I still see it’s valuable tool as a believer to be missional in our current context. People respond to Halloween in various ways even in the secular world. There is a FB post out now about a woman giving out letters on obesity (totally weird), some people collect canned goods for a food bank, some for donations to charities. Instead of arguing over Biblical passages that support or denounce the withdrawal from cultural festivities (depending on the context that applies) I think about how Paul in Romans proclaimed food and days to be unessential issues is worthy of further study and application. Paul states, give the weaker in faith benefit of the doubt.If you are more free from the law we should never boast in our freedom because it causes the weaker in faith to stumble by not allowing the Holy Spirit in their conscious to reveal their freedom in Christ. It's a process to figure out you are freer than you actually are. Paul states in that the one that observes the food and observance of days is actually weaker in faith, and the mature to be more confident in their freedom from the law. But it backfires if you shove it in their face and basically is arrogant. I would say this can apply to the observation or non observance of Halloween too for the believer. Don’t put unnecessary pressure on believers to participate or not in Halloween. Sometimes it’s not IF, but HOW we participate that sends the clear message.

In our neighborhood if the porch light is off, that means you are not home or not participating. I will say here however, that living in a neighborhood is simply my favorite thing about living in New England. For example, there is a retired couple on our street that hand makes something unique and different for each child that lives on the street. One year handmade bean bags, the next elaborate origami. No candy. My kids have been WAITING eagerly and even went down to their house and tried to pry the information from them a day early. Not even my kids could get the secret out of them. It’s really is hard to beat that personal effect on a kid. That’s love. That’s personal. These are my neighbors that love my kids. They have seen them ride their bikes and fall. They have allowed them to use their bathrooms in emergencies and don’t call the cops when they play in their wooded backyard. Soon, the crunch of the leaves, screamingly cute kids will arrive at my door and this is my opportunity as a missional mom to know EACH and every one of them. I know who is behind those masks by name! Do you? Just like our Heavenly Father knows our hearts, may I remind us that God is after each heart that rings your doorbell tonight and says “Trick or Treat!”. What will you give them?

Matt 11:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 12 So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Why I will avoid Hobby Lobby as a jew loving Christian

Dear CEO Mr. Green,

I have been a valuable customer, a Christian and also a supporter and advocate of God's chosen people, the Jews.

In a recent article you will find floating around on Facebook and other public communication arenas, that you have displayed an attitude and perspective not too dissimilar to the Christians of europe prior to WW2 which led to the destruction of 6 million jews by an otherwise "christian" part of the world.

http://www.kveller.com/blog/parenting/hobby-lobby-doesnt-cater-to-jews/

I would like to point out that in scripture, God proclaimed to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you" to the nation of Israel (jews) of the Old Testament. I believe you have asked for God's swift judgement upon your company (don't be surprised when JEW loving Christians stop buying from your stores!) in that Jesus was a JEW and he even celebrated the celebration of the temple dedication aka Hanukah in the New Testament. In Romans, Paul (also a JEW) the apostle points out that God is still faithful to the JEWISH people and that there are benefits to being JEWISH, one in that they were stewards and benefactors of God's first words to the human race. That alone should be reason enough to cater some sort product line that would sell to both JEWS and Christians that actually still celebrate the BIBLICAL feasts with their jewish family and friends, such as Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles and yes even Hanukah! That's right, many Christians are seeing the value in celebrating Hanukah because it actually has a spiritual component to it and is way less commercial than Christmas.

Many churches hold seder dinners to educate Christians in their spiritual heritage to better understand where THEIR faith comes from which is essentially founded in Judaism. Perhaps I could assist in finding a messianic friendly congregation near you in Oklahoma that would educate you in the foundations of YOUR faith. I know you are not a pastor, or teacher but you are someone who is of some public view and I feel this attitude is often felt in the community just as it was in the Roman church 2,000 years ago that prompted Paul the apostle to write his letter to the gentiles for being anti Semitic towards their jewish believer brothers and sisters. Perhaps you should read that too and remind yourself of Romans 11 what the meaning of "grafting them back in" really meant.

No one is expecting you to carry all secular product line. But I will stop purchasing our church supplies from Holly Lobby if this policy and attitude does not change. Especially if I see a Santa Clause that has nothing to do with the Christian faith but more to do with idolatry and paganism than the Gospel or Jesus Christ, who was the JEWISH Messiah according to our shared scripture.

Thank you for taking the time to hopefully read this and look deep into the vision and purpose for having a company like Hobby Lobby. I unfortunately can not support your company if your "values" are to train your managers to respond to human beings jewish or otherwise in such an anti semitic tones. I would encourage YOU to re-evaluate your "values" to be truly Christian and understand the foundations of the Gospel (that it's a free gift to everyone first for the JEW, then for the gentile: Romans) May I remind you that your call to share the gospel should be of your first priority over keeping to your "values" and that includes making a buck from importing cheap products from communist China that exploits it's people for cheap labor to supply your stores. I've spent 17 years in the manufacturing and retail business and know the dirty secrets so let's not kid ourselves with relative "values" shall we?

So until I see this policy change, I will shop at your competitors all which carry both Santa AND Hanukkah products because at the end of the day- we really just want stuff cheap, right? Like pagan Rome, we want our bread and our wine and as long as we are well fed we don't discriminate how we get it.

Sincerely,

Lisa Vote
mother, blogger, theology student, Jesus and jew lover

Green Hands

I caught them green handed. Last week I had left two of my kids home (sort of supervised) while I took the most “dangerous” of the children and I say this in jest, but not really to his archery lessons. As I pulled up into our driveway, I was greeted by my lovely children along with a couple of the neighborhood girls. They had green hands covered with green food coloring and looking quite sheepish like they’ve gotten into something they were not too sure about, but nonetheless exclaimed...”we’ve made SLIME!” Oh yeah! yeah for me.... I come to discover that they had used their box of cornstarch supplied by my husband who had purchased the supplies for this “science experiment” the night before. I must interject: my 11 year old son told me on the phone prior to this, that Dad was supervising this activity and made the assumption that Dad was in on the game...but, he wasn’t because he was on the phone working. Meanwhile the younger child and his minions did not get the “memo” regarding not making green slime without a parent and proceeded to mix a whole bottle of green food dye and a whole bag of white flour, cornstarch in several plastic cups. With our silverware on the new patio furniture. They were so proud of themselves for making green slime. I was in a state of mental panic thinking of how the laundry would be green for months when I walked onto the scene.

In an effort to bring a sense of “order” to the green slime chaos I freaked out a bit because the dog was ferociously eating the floury green goo. I imagined green dog vomit on my carpet. This did not help the situation at all. My voice, frustrated and thinking how stupid was I to leave two kids home and trust that something wouldn’t have gone horribly wrong was expressed by my disapproval and horror at the scene. As I poured out the green guck in the yard, I looked up and saw our little neighbor friend holding her green stained hands up as if to surrender and tears streaming down her face...

“Are you afraid of going home with green hands honey?” I asked

She nodded with a worried face.

“I am so sorry for freaking out, I will help clean you up...don’t worry...trust me...”

I took the two guilty slime producers into the kitchen and told them to put their hands in the sink as I sprayed their hands with Tilex. Our little friend’s face turned on a dime, amazed at how the bleach took all the food coloring stains off her hands in seconds. She was no longer a liability to anyone’s white walls including mine. I wiped her tears from her face and said something simple and looked her square in the eye... with love and whispered a heavenly secret in her ear. Then I sent them both outside to continue to play.

She was free.

Something kept repeating in my mind during this little scenario that John Lynch, author of The Cure asked in a recent small group I attend. “What if you were really in trouble, you screwed up...do you have someone you trust to talk to about this with?” Most people don’t. They live life isolated and alone when it comes to the nitty gritty of the “ugliness” of when we are at our worst. This past week I’ve really thought about how I don’t trust many people when it comes to myself having green hands after making slime. I think it was the complete hands up with tears...frozen in fear scene that showed me a part of myself. My heart melted and realized I related in my own times of royally screwing up that I am scared. A part of my own fear of having someone walk in on my slime making production and completely freaking out about the mess.

“This is YOU” God said. “Who are you going to be...to that little girl? Someone who she can trust? or someone that freaks out over green food coloring because it’s messy?”

Sin is messy.

I went slightly insane at the scene of green slime all over the yard and frankly they didn’t know any better. I had the power, the knowledge to remedy the problem. Fear holds us back, but so does ignorance. How can anyone trust me if I respond to sin like a nut job? That’s my green slime. Anger, fear, frustration and feeling out of control (there are other colors of slime that’s just the green stuff!). Sometimes I’ve made a big mess and need someone to just Tilex my hands. I need someone with the knowledge of Grace that speaks to that fear and frustration and washes it clean. I’m grateful that His grace works everyday in my life. He frees us from the pain of fear of rejection, condemnation and even parents with short tempers. We can trust Him with our struggles and when we do...

We too are free.

Hannah Montana Gone Wild

If I had one thing to say to Miley Cyrus...or the little girls that look up to her and the Lady Gagas, the Britney Spears, the Rhinnas, the Madonnas, the Katy Perrys. I must ask these women, do you want to be respected as equals in this world? Do you want to be protected by the idiotic objectifications of men? Are you really more than just a pretty face? A headless body? How does our culture freak out about Barbie's unnatural proportions when we have butt slapping g-strings on prime-time TV?

Sadly, these sisters do more more harm for women's equality with their crotch grabbing on stage girls. You can be cute, smart...and yes..keep your booty to yourself and not be called a "prude" for doing so.
In FACT, you might actually work some progress in the fight for women's equality in the world. I have more respect for the women in burqas in the middle east who fight everyday of their lives to overcome a male dominated culture as they literally RISK their lives to do simple things like the right to drive a car. Women demand equal pay, equal opportunities. We already have these "rights" in this country, however when cute little things like Miley Cyrus or Britney Spears pole dance in a plaid school girl skirt takes us back centuries to women as "possessions" rather than equals to men. To be seen as an equal is impossible if the image of women continues to be one of a sexual toy, an object. That image is one that mankind upholds in our culture and it is not just MEN'S faults simply because they have that insane hormone called Testosterone coursing through their veins. Men and women are responsible for the image creating of "what" or "who" women are. That includes the producers of these crazy VMAs sitting in suits (or skirts) behind big desks in Hollywood and think that this is a "great idea!". They are simply stupid. Now I actually love music. I personally like the angry feminist Alanis Morrisette or the proportionally "accurate" Adele's "Rolling in the Deep". I pray I never see either of my favorites do a dance number like Miley's.

Little girls. Listen up. If you flaunt yourself, men will NEVER respect you- or what you say as worth anything. They won't even buy your records or think of you as a REAL artist. If you really want to see some progressive women's equality in this culture, don't believe the lies and trends these tarts seem to sell to our young people. Be confident in "who" and "what" you are, a child of God. God created you in HIS image.

Love, Pastor Barbie (also known as Lucy2Shoes)

I'm happy to endorse these cuties that rock the music and love Jesus!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGtkL6Xxymw

Things Change

I haven’t posted on my blog for a while mostly because I’ve been busy with school and actually have had a stream of events that caused some waves in my life. So post term papers I am jumping back to write more blogs. Recently a trip to New York my soul city inspired me so here I write, and there’s nothing like New York City bring me back to a sense of perspective and center. I don’t know why, maybe it’s the cafe life that went to my head this weekend or the fact I went with some close girlfriends that have experienced great suffering in their lives that inspired me with their beauty and faith.

As we sat there talking in a cool chic restaurant in Soho it dawned on me that I was twice the age of most of the crowd in the restaurant. In the early 90s it was I that was the young single hipster in Soho 20 years ago hanging out after shopping for unobtainable goods way out of my budget as a student at FIT. Not feeling any older aside from my swollen ankles from walking the city all day, I realized that age gives you a special perspective on aspects of life. Experiencing suffering does as well. I marvel at how my friends drew close having never met before as they spoke with commonalities of emotional and physical loss.These women have had to figure out priorities, reset their perspectives in areas of their lives that would solely depend on real Truth rather than the voices that would oppose that Truth. In New York, charm and beauty are very real avenues of influence that quite frankly certain industry’s economic well being are fueled by charm and beauty. We try to preserve youth, beauty and charm relentlessly yet some things even Botox or facial peels can’t do to change our outward appearances and in most cases taints a natural beauty of aging in my opinion. Observing my surroundings, I now don’t fit into the same charm and beauty my life in the New York of my 20s and 30s. It has changed to a life of motherhood of three boys in the country and now in my 40s I find things mysteriously “shift” and grow where they really quite frankly...shouldn’t be. Change can be hard but necessary to prioritize our lives but we often find change harder to cope with the older we get.

One truth is that things change about our culture, our bodies and our aspects of our lives and we more often than not do not have the power to stop it. Take for example, the fact that my all time favorite restaurant of over 20 years closed it’s doors. Many memories of dates with my Aussie sweetheart hubby were made in that restaurant. We frequented it for celebrations and meetings with friends and family almost weekly during our New York days. This past weekend, I went to meet my brother there and the skeletal windows were dark and at the door hung a sign “closed”. A shell of what it used to be, a vibrant Vietnamese restaurant that teamed with the hustle and bustle of life and smells of coconut sticky rice, lemongrass, ginger tea and sesame oil that fried my spring rolls to a light heavenly crunch. I’ve been out of New York for eight years now and many more things have changed about the city other than restaurants. People now have wifi everywhere as ipads, iphones and up to date info at the touch of a finger. People walk and text, there are public service ads regarding the dangers of stepping out in front of a car while texting. The subway letters change, there are new modern buildings and renovations that popped up where there once stood some old decrepit storage facilities or run down buildings. Rent prices change, salaries change, company take overs and gentrification of dicey neighborhoods just happen. For the good, or bad of the city...New Yorkers deal with change all of the time.

I realize for myself, that I’ve come a long way since I was 20 and single in the city. I’ve always hated change. I might have had my grounding as a young adult in New York but I still intrinsically  don’t “like” or “embrace” change at all. I don’t think I am alone in this perspective, however in relationship to these women I dined with in Soho,  I see God’s hand in their lives bringing change to their lives through the fact of experience...suffering. The most painful, yet effective means for spiritual change in our naturally settled comfort zones even at the expense of ourselves. No one chooses suffering. No one chooses breast cancer, or a divorce because a spouse abandons them or the loss of an adult child. No one chooses a house ripped up by a violent tornado. Yet, these beautiful women have an incredible perspective that few hipster 20 young things understand. Some things Botox, facial peels or plastic surgery can’t do to avoid age or “other undesirable bodily issues”. Spiritual growth and strength through suffering produces spiritual fruit.

We all look to the “perfect” wife in scripture often times in Proverbs 31 and fail to realize that the proverb was written as “advice” for a mother’s son to think about the kind of woman he ought to marry. There is no REAL Proverbs 31 wife that actually exists. She’s actually doesn’t exist like the airbrushed model on the cover of Cosmo. We as women of faith often uphold this scripture and try to duplicate that “perfect” wife by baking bread or doing homespun crafts when in reality our houses are far from that picture because they are on the 5-2-2-5 custody schedule as the result of divorce. A little too perfect because her house is in perfect order, she is gathering spices in the market and does not worry about tomorrow. There is something deeper about the proverb when read in context, yet causes a false sense of idealism when not. What happens when you give it all and your husband doesn’t find you beautiful but leaves for a younger woman? What happens when cancer strikes and changes your body? What happens when the once charm in your life becomes complicated with depression and loss? Where is the Proverbs 31 woman when everything seems to fail, including the marriage?

...a woman that fears the Lord is to be praised. Observing life over a longer period of time gives perspective to the truth that suffering often forcibly rearranges your life it brings fruit that only God can bring in our lives. Suffering forges a seed that is more dependant on Christ as it produces the fruit of perseverance, humility and fashions us to be more like Him in our character and enables us to accept that suffering will change things (often painfully) to bring about God’s Glory in places that we often never knew needed illumination.

Proverb 31:30 Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

My Lenten NonObservance

My Lenten NonObservance

So as promised to myself, I have taken my fingers to the keyboard when I have massive insomnia.
I really do hate seeing the sun come up knowing I’ve only dozed for a few minutes and in the night my mind has basically solved world peace, world hunger and the economic downfall. The thought did come to mind, about Lent. Why? Because many people observe it and in these first world “issues” that we have many people decide to take Facebook fasts, fast from chocolate or other tasty treats they have hidden in the freezer for emergency like that tub of Haagan Daz. I spent years in an incredible Anglican Church in New York City that observed Lent. I didn’t know what Lent or Advent was growing up because I went to various non denominational, evangelical churches. My catholic friends did Lent. I wondered as a kid what it was and why they were giving things up that seems so vital to life when I was 10...like their allowance. It didn’t make much sense but then again neither did the whole Mary and rosary thing either.

When I went to the Anglican church it enriched my understanding.Lent can be a time of more concentrated study, prayer and fasting. It can be an enriching time.My favorite part of Lent at our Anglican church was after the service a window would covered with a white drape each week, shutting out the light and then BOOM on Easter the Light shone in sometimes even quasi blinded a couple people, everything was decorated in purple and the altar was adorned with flowers. The brunch they served at local Upper West Side establishments really did a bang up job and the festivities too. I always settled on H&H bagels or Zabars myself having to sit and smell the fresh yeast laden bagels baking and boiling...right...across...the street. Really tempting if you are fasting from enriched white flour and high calorie carbs, eating out, or my favorite back then was riding the subway. Really a bummer if you were late for work or it rained.

Lent can also be a time when the lines of tradition and doctrine are finely drawn. Many evangelical churches never mention Lent let alone observe it. Why is this?

Lent is never spoken of in Scripture as the early church still was predominantly Jewish and they still celebrated the Sabbath meal and calender when it came to feasts and holy days. Jesus never spoke to observe Lent in fact he observed Jewish holidays even insignificant ones like the Feast of the Dedication aka Hanukkah. The early church believed that Lent started with Christ in the wilderness, and was proclaimed a time of repentance and fasting to prepare for Easter. There are some documents that state this might be the case like the Didache but the Didache is not canonical scripture to draw doctrine from.There’s a bigger discussion somewhere in there that would make this blog way too long. I need to remember I’m writing to the MTV generation, which is now geriatric as opposed to the Youtube generation.

Nothing is new under the sun! This is Old Testament wisdom of Solomon. The fact is, many people do not celebrate Lent and still they go to church and are believers. I personally find a Facebook fast a predominantly first world crisis. In a country that is so full of abundance, educational privileges, religious freedom, political freedom and an overabundance of Starbucks with WiFi, Apple products and Free Trade chocolate I think God must laugh...or chuckle at thinking how we’ve "sacrificed" these precious times off Facebook and our “habitual sins” of overindulging in sugar free jello chocolate mousse while catching up on Downton Abbey. Now, I’m not hinting at one person or another so if you’ve declared a fast don’t worry...this is not about YOU. I just find it funny that people declare on Facebook, virtual Times Square their fast and leave their email as an alternative method of contacting them. Try turning off the electricity for 40 days and then Lent might get really ugly. In Radical by David Platt he writes how we might need to revaluate how the "American Dream" has crept into our call to discipleship and sacrifice as a way of life. My point is, I think Scripture calls for everyday should be lived like it’s Lent in praying without ceasing, abiding in Christ, and devoting our lives to the apostles teaching of the Gospel of grace. Jesus said it’s not what goes in your mouth that makes you clean, it’s what comes out of it that defiles us because we speak out of the heart. Jesus spoke very clearly that we must pick up our cross daily and follow Him. (Luke 9:23)This is personally why I don’t feel the need to observe the tradition of Lent. I am free not to.

So with that off my chest I will post this wonderful blog on Facebook, grab my coffee to get me through the day...so thankful I didn’t give up caffeine or I’d be screaming at the kids by noon and grasping desperately for that chocolate mousse. All the Facebook fasters will get this on Easter or sooner if they cheat. Don’t worry I won’t judge you (wink wink), it will just prove that when we are weak He is strong!

Lucy2Shoes

Lifeboats

My youngest son has his mother’s fascination for subsurface sunken treasures, stories of what lives in the abyss, sea monsters and pirates.Last year it was the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic sinking and so this became a big subject for my son’s growing fascination in the Titanic.We have countless books, Life magazines and National Geographics. He’s even asked if he can redecorate his room with the theme of the Titanic and started by taping  posters of the Titanics breaking and sinking to it’s demise at 12,000 feet (kinda morbid if you ask me!). We’ve watched the documentaries and the underwater exploration of the wreckage (thank you James Cameron). It’s eerily fascinating and yet scientists keep diving down to see what happened to cause such a massive watery grave. When James Cameron’s epic movie came out in 1997, it brought to light a spectacular reality of what luxury, wealth and status could buy for the aristocratic class at the turn of the century. I guess at this point I should point out the movie grossed more than the cost of building the actual ship!

Now because my son shares my fascination for the deep sea grave, and archeology, scuba diving and such I have sat through many hours of factual information on the Titanic. Most people would find it boring... I love it over and above popular sitcoms. So how in the world do I bring this whole Titanic thing into my blog because it’s been on my mind a lot more recently. Here’s why.

Though several theories of the how could the Titanic sink, it’s the “whys” that seem to increase my thoughts to a more comic idea. The more eerie lesser known fact is that upon the sailing across the Atlantic, an employee of White Star cruise lines said, “Not even God himself can sink this ship!”.  They never customarily prayed or blessed the ship. Another lesser known fact is that the ship was strong indeed with strong steel however,the weakness of the rivets that held the ship together have been found to contain too much “slag” in the metal that gave way to the iceberg when it hit. The final portion of the tragedy was death for the ship and it’s people, was that they hadn’t put enough lifeboats that would allow the ship to save each passenger should they come to disaster. They were so sure of themselves that the Titanic would never sink. One ponders this kind of thinking right? Too big to crumble, too strong to break, it will never happen and we are so right that God can’t even correct us. I am reminded of the tower of babel in this situation as ancient mankind built up, God stooped down and pretty much confused that corporate gathering with some strange new languages because it was not something He had commissioned. He actually said “go to the ends of the earth” not stay and build a tower to heaven.

Anytime there is a corporate building of any entity it’s only as strong as what it’s built on.
Have you ever found yourself depending a corporation that is so big and powerful that it surely couldn’t sink? Maybe retirement?  I think of several times when working in the fashion industry when big names fell like the tower, sank like a stone into bankruptcy. More recently, the World Trade towers actually were built very similarly to the Titanic in 1974. They were modern marvels of their time, build architecturally to withstand a hit from a plane and still stand. For thousands of years mankind has built pyramids, tombs, highways, coliseums, temples, sea faring ships, rockets, houses of worship, cities, countries, kingdoms. They all pass away eventually. In the climax of a country’s empire building it’s extremely blinding and deceptive to corporately think something would never allow such a large entity to crumble. Has there been any “empires” that has for the benefit of us all crumbled? I am thinking of a time in history when the church was forced to disperse throughout the nations, the Gospel was stuck in Jerusalem until the stoning of Stephen.

I’m reading an awesome book right now, Creature of the Word by Matt Chandler/Josh Patterson/Eric Geiger. It’s got some good juicy nuggets of truth in building a community of grace- a Jesus centered church. The fact is even any given church is only as strong as it’s rivets.If we see the Gospel as the rivets that hold the gathering of “the called out ones” or church being ekklesia than the foundational thread that holds a community together. If a church is full steam at 22 knots in an iceberg ridden sea it will soon enough be tested in it’s strength not because of it’s ability to go fast and make good time.

Just as the river forms the distributaries, the gospel forms the Church. The distributaries do not form the river, just as the Church does not form the gospel. When a church confuses the order, she loses her true effectiveness. When a church chooses something other than the river of the gospel as the driving force behind her teaching, programming, staffing and decisions, she empties herself of all power. Instead of becoming a distributor of life, she becomes a distributary of death. She doesn’t really have anything else to offer.

Can you imagine yourself bobbing along in a lifeboat watching the Titanic sink as a survivor? Almost 866 people were in that situation. I’ve stood in my office on 9/11 watching the twin towers smoke and billow then finally crumble to the ground under 40 minutes full well knowing it took an hour and a half to actually evacuate them because of the design of their structure. Trust me, I know I share that experience with many people and it’s not a good feeling in the moment. We now see Freedom tower being built, with added fire proofing and structures, although much of lower Manhattan was slammed by hurricane Sandy and flooded...again, never expected or built to accommodate a massive superstorm of Sandy’s size. Devastation affects an entire community, not just victims but survivors and spectators as well.

The gospel is not only the foundation for our service: it also radically purifies our motivation for service.

When we build something, we must be sure it’s not only built strong but the motivating purpose must be pure as well. We can count on God to purify those motivations when we find ourselves off kilter. The church is a great networking place, it’s a great place to be social, kids programs can be relevant and fun with parties and potlucks. But if the motivation and foundation of the community is not built on the foundational rivets of the Gospel and the motivation of our service isn’t out of a heart of the gospel’s commission we will find ourselves wishing we had jumped onto the lifeboat when we had the chance. God builds up the Church His way with His Word. His Word is the Gospel. Connectivity does not equate to community, nor the depth of the relationships guaranteed if they aren’t gospel centered. The survivors of the Titanic, many of them women and children share something in common in that they instantly were part of a survivors community: corporate experience. Some were rich, some were lower class, many were children now orphans and it was a tragedy that bound them together. That’s the story of the Gospel for all of us “called out ones” who believe, have faith in the grace of Jesus to save us from ourselves and our self deceit in thinking we are so strong that nothing can take us down.

Community is only as strong as what it’s built upon. And nothing is as strong as the gospel. 

All quotes are from Creature of the Word written by Matt Chandler/Josh Patterson/ Eric Greiger