I’ve gotten the commute to 1 hour each way. I get BORED waiting for the transfer bus on the way home, to the point that I’ll often skip one bus and walk for 40 minutes, rather than wait at a bus stop for 10 minutes. But that’s fine. It’s good exercise.

But one thing I definitely appreciate: the time I have to read!

I have about a half an hour every morning and every evening to read for pleasure. It’s great. I just finished “Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud” and now I’m reading “A Cook in Time”. Such fun!

I’m considering what to do when Lent ends. Perhaps I shall drive on days when I need to be somewhere after work, but bus on days when I don’t.

I find myself choosing between walking 25 minutes from the bus stop to my work place, or waiting 25 minutes for the transfer bus to arrive. Yesterday it took me 1-1/2 hours to make the trip home (when driving, it’s 25 minutes tops). And on Wednesday night (by far my favorite mishap yet), I got stuck in a hailstorm while crossing the 15th Ave Bridge in Ballard by foot. With no umbrella. Woohoo!

But, ah, isn’t that the wonderful way that Lenten vows work? They’re supposed to challenge you. Give me a couple weeks. By the grace of God, I’m sure I shall get the hang of it.

To steal a line, I feel like I know what it is like to be all alone in the night (B5).

The most interesting idea about the decisions people made on which texts to include in the New Testament canon — why need a canon at all? Well, when Christians are being persecuted, it’s important for them to know which books & letters they can renounce and which ones really have to be stuck to. I’d never thought about that before.

As to how to procede in reading the New Testament, I think I’ll continue with the Pauline letters. The New Testament has them arranged according to length, so I feel no particular need to read them in order. I’d like to be able to read the entire book in one setting, and look at the book as a whole – at least to start with.

So, Galatians it is.

How do we reconcile the passages that talk about being fruitful and multiplying and filling the earth? The places that can least afford people have huge population densities. Think China and India with each over 1 billion people…

I admit there are no easy answers and I am not the most eloquent with the written word.

And that’s a good point bringing up PETA and one’s carbon footprint. I’ve been on a red meat kick lately. That is to say, I’ve been craving red meat A LOT and eating A LOT of it. For me, this usually means that I’m low on iron and my body needs more. I think I’ll challenge myself to find other ways of getting myself the nutrients my body is craving. I can leave less of an imprint on the ecosystem, yet still get the nutrients I need. I just need to be proactive about it.

I think I do something different with Genesis 1:28. As with any single passage, I need to look at the context in which the line happens and the context in which the story was originally told before I can draw wisdom for how it impacts my life today.

So, Genesis 1:28-31:

God blessed [the male and female he had created], and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

It is true – it’s hard if not impossible to understand exactly what the word “subdue” is intended to mean. But I cannot read this passage and say that this is God allowing me to do whatever I want with creation. Nor can I say that this passage has anything to do with such modern issues as overpopulation and eco-crises. This is a creation story from thousands of years ago. We only started talking about the environmental crisis in the 60s.

If I do try to draw wisdom from the passage, I see that it describes a world in which we as humans and all animals of creation have been provided for by God – in a good and beautiful way. If I am to try to relate this passage to my environmental ethic, then that ethic must flow from that.

(I also have a snide reaction, too.) I wouldn’t take the comment about subduing the earth any more literally than I would the comment about us getting to eat every plant. I mean, obviously God did not mean for us to be munching on poison ivy. (But that’s a bit off-focus.) :~)