IrishOboe

There is no way I can do justice to all the incredible things that have happened this week.  I can’t remember what I’ve told whom, and don’t have time since I can’t even really figure out what all is in my schedule for this week!  Suffice it to say it’s been busy, but good.  Wednesday is my busiest day with classes.  I had “instrumental workshop” with Ken Zuckerman, which was great!  I’m not sure why that’s the title, but he worked with one student, teaching her a medieval tune by ear then playing around with the tune.  They happened to be in E-minor, so I joined in on my whistle.  That’s the way to teach a music class!  I watched some of the advanced modal improvisation, but since I know little about Indian music I didn’t get too much out of it.

I had planned to hit an Irish pub or two, but I had to practice Baroque oboe and didn’t want a repeat of being a single gal in a Swiss-Irish pub.  Besides, I have no green and feared for my life.  Does eating steamed broccoli for dinner count?

I’ve heard Christians present the work Jesus did on the cross as follows.  Imagine you’ve been convicted of some crime, let’s say rape.  You go to court and the Judge finds you guilty and gives you life in prison.  Then all of a sudden, this person (who happens to be God) named Jesus jumps into the room and says, “I’ll serve the time for this guilty man.  Let him go free.”  Jesus pays the price, and the guilty man goes away with his guilt wiped away and he is supposed to be so grateful for what Jesus has done for him that he follows him with joy for the rest of his life, never raping again.  Of course, if he does happen to rape again (which we’re told is likely to happen), Jesus will be there again to pay the penalty.

I find this a perfectly horrific picture of a God.  To be fair, I don’t think the people who use this “paid the price” analogy really mean exactly this, but that’s what it appears to me to boil down to.

What good has this done?  Is the rapist any better off?  Is the judge satisfied?  What about the girl he raped?

I’ve finally had the time to read the two articles Jon linked to in the comment section of God’s Blessings.  Thanks for the contribution.  I’ll jealously request that next time anyone links to an article I’d love to hear a sentence or two about what you think about it so I know what to look for and how to relate.  But even without such hints from Jon I found plenty to comment on.