We're the renegades, we're the people with our own philosophies

Some link-y things for you today.

Seen this image posted around, and it brings up good points (click to enlarge):

Of course, being me, I came up with my own versions:

• God is, so I follow.
• Motivation is based on love.
• I obey God in the same way that people obey their own hearts.
• When circumstances in my life go wrong, I try to my hardest to see that they, too, are God.
• When I am critized, I listen for the resonance of what God has to say to me within what I hear, be that literally in what's being said, or in the situation. God is always working to communicate with us, in praise and in criticism.
• I yearn and strive to live a life where everything I do is prayer.
• My self-view is based upon how I have responded to the work God is doing to me and through me. As I struggle with how imperfectly I answer His call, I am led to humility and appreciation of grace, as well as a renewed sense of the importance of what is to be done and why fear must be cast aside.
• May my identity eventually be lost in God's. My self-worth is based on God's undeserved love - also known as grace. In those who believe or practice something different from me, I encounter a different face of God, smiling back at me.

Next up, we have a short interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who, if you've missed the memo, is retiring from public appearances. (He was just in Ghana, actually, because he's on the ship with the current Semester at Sea voyage, which stopped in Takoradi a couple weeks ago. My dear friend Miriam is also on that ship, and I visited her and made her and her friends try FanIce, the best ice cream in the world.)

Anyway, the interview is fabulous, and I'll just point out this little segment of it:

It's not just a political struggle. We've had controversies about the ordination of women. You have to ask: "What is God's vision on this one?" And almost always you can bet your bottom dollar that God is going to be on the side of the one who is being clobbered. We need women. Then there's the whole question of sexual orientation. I would not be able to worship a God who was homophobic. I wouldn't understand how in this one instance, Jesus would be found supporting those who were oppressing others.

Today is "National Coming Out Day", which I always think is a kind of slightly awkward name for it (are all the people who are already out excluded?), but particularly in light of the recent teen suicides due to anti-gay bullying, it's important. It's important for all of us Christians to remember that we are called to live according to the example of Christ, and the only people Christ condemned were those who were condemning others.

While reading this interview, I chuckled a bit at the mention of the World Cup. We went out to eat at a restaurant broadcasting the Black Stars vs. Sudan game last night, and it was rollicking. World Cup frenzy is STILL huge here. I also laughed at, "We can meet deadlines," what with my frustrations with Africa time.

And finally, a quote from Tom Morello, guitarist of Rage Against the Machine:

America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you've lost all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in the end, the product doesn't belong to you. The only way you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don't care about making a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve.

I am not as worried about "the system" as RATM is, though I love their music and think it's important. But I had a conversation last night with one of my roommates about theater people having to support themselves and their work (and how, sometimes when you face the question of, "Do I eat, or do I buy costumes?", you chose to buy costumes), and then I've been reading almost entirely ascetic literature for the last 2 months. Christian asceticism comes from the call to "sell all your belongings, give the money to the poor, and follow me." That kind of philosophy is actually dangerous in a capitalist society. The freedom to starve is the realization that you do not have to be so attached to this world. You can be in the world but not of it.

Midterms. I'm so confused by real college work, so instead of revising a paper last night I did hours of image research for productions that are far in the future.