Doubt and Peace

Laura and I officially joined our church, St. Thomas the Doubter, this past Sunday and I realized that I hadn’t mentioned it yet on my blog.  The name of the church in and of itself seems to entice a variety of conversations – as well it should as it is a good synecdoche of who we are.  We have already been slightly ridiculed for the name – saying that it is like naming your church ‘David the Adulterer’.  The sentiment expressed: ‘why would you want to highlight the shortcomings of your namesake?’ 

First, I don’t see doubt as Thomas’ shortcoming.  Skepticism can take the form of full blown rebellion but it can also express the natural internal conflict that comes when presented with two opposing but real worldviews.  Christianity is full of claims that do not immediately and readily square up with what we observe about reality.  Trusting these claims without asking for a bigger context is at best naïve and at worst deliberate ignorance. 

The biggest context that Christ offers is that He is in the process of bringing peace to the world through His resurrection.  This peace goes squarely against the history and tendency of violence that can seem so prevalent.  This violence is not an illusion and doubt in its purest form is recognition of this competing reality with Christ’s ultimate restoration.  As such the mission I am charged with is to recognize and promote the peace of Christ amidst the violence of the world.

Second, we are particularly interested as a church in those in our community who doubt.  Doubting might have been Thomas’s weakness but it is a weakness shared by a great many in our society.  It is also a weakness that Jesus dealt compassionately with.    

Here is a link to the list of doubts and Christ’s responses to the doubts put together by our pastor:

The Doubts

The Responses

Some pics of one of our services (we meet at the Plano Children's Theater - got to love their purple curtain):

Tis the Season for Microbiology

So this year we really tried hard to geek out with the Christmas tree decorations (not that we haven’t done this before).  We went with a 'microscopic universe' theme complete with DNA garland (made from pipe cleaners), micro-organism ornaments (made with the laser cutter), and a lithium atom tree topper.  We also threw in some glass globe ornaments filled with the biodiversity of our backyard.  Some pics:

The tree in its full glory.

A neuron cell.

A plant stem section.

Some pampas grass.

Microscopic wood grain.

Amoeba!

Beware the bacteriophage!

A cross section of an animal cell.

Even the tree skirt resembled phyto plankton

The tree topper was a Lithium atom (because of its star like appearance and Trinitarian theme)

The micro-organisms ornaments

The first round of backyard terrariums.

The second round of backyard terrariums.

The first round of petri dish ornaments.

The second round of petri dish ornaments.

IF - Sneaky

What could be more sneaky than a ninja cat? 

Architectural Christmas Cards 2010

I didn't win my works Christmas Card competition this year - but I did have fun designing some cards.


First up is a 'gingerbread haus'.



And another gigerbreadhaus in a bahaus style poster format.




Finally we have the scrooge of the architecture world - the mighty Frank Lloyd Wright.



Aronofsky to Direct the Next Wolverine Movie

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/15/next-wolverine-film-wont-be-a-sequel/?hpt=T2

Darren Aronofsky is slated to direct the next Wolverine film with Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine although it won’t be necessarily connected to the other x-men and wolverine films.  It will revolve around Wolverine’s adventures/tragedies in Japan.

Sometimes the universe aligns in such a way that it seems to cater to your specific whims – and when this happens you usually can’t really believe it to be true.  This movie announcement is one of those times for me.  Aronofsky – who is one of my favorite directors – is tackling a superhero movie?  Next thing you know Miyazaki will announce his plans to animate Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet.

So in honor of this news I did a quick sketch of Wolverine in the infamous scene from Pi:

(PS Thanks to Brian for the heads up)

OK Go and their awesome music videos

While their music is pretty good the real brilliance in the band OK GO is in their elaborate music videos.  I know they have been passed around the internet about a billion times but having them all in one place is handy.

A stop motion video made with toast and a laser cutter.

 

An elaborate Rube Goldberg machine.



Lots of Dogs

Sistine Chapel Panorama

Have you been wanting to visit the Sistine Chapel and just haven’t got over to the Vatican to see it yet?  The following link takes you to an interactive panorama of the chapel and as a bonus you get to experience it without hundreds of sweaty tourists packed into it.  Be sure and use the zoom feature to get a good look at Michelangelo’s details.  Enjoy:

http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html



A picture of the Sistine that Laura took on her visit.



IF - Burning

Beware the burning fury of the Magmapillar!

Fiesta Latinoamericana

Back on October 10th, Laura, Grace and I went to the Fiesta Latinoamericana in downtown Dallas.  I got some fun pictures of some traditional Mexican dancers.

Pumpkins

We went to the Dallas Farmer's Market on Saturday to get some pumpkins to carve and got some good pictures as well.

 

Laura looking a little too excited about wielding a knife.

Laura's spooky graveyard.

My monster and mad scientist.