The Organ of Meaning

Hey, it’s my step-dad’s birthday. I hope he has a good one.

My mom “invented” a new word today, or at least a word that should be a word.

That new, magical word is:

Orative

I want to try flesh out a little more what the word means exactly, but it’s something like, “relating to something that contains oration or public speeking.”

Here’s the context of the conversation where it first occurred:

Me:We’ve been sitting in meetings the past two days… my brain is fried.
Mom: Bible study or meetings?
Me: Beginning of the semester meetings.
Mom: Interactive or orative?
Me: Interactive, we’ve been having teem meetings.

So, this past Thursday was my last day on campus in Western PA.

I’m still believing that we’ll be back after our year in Washington DC, but it’s still a little odd and sad. The thing that struck me on Wednesday night was that for the first time in nine years I won’t be spending any time in Edinboro this fall. Edinboro has grabbed up and influenced almost a decade of my life.

The past nine years has seen me begin to take my faith seriously, I met my wife as well as my best friend, I earned a degree in Communication Theory, I went into “the ministry”, I got married, moved out of Erie county for the first time. I’ve had 13 addresses, 8 phone numbers, my dad got married, my mom and step-dad moved to North Carolina, my Grandma Merry and Papa Bob died as well as my uncle Ken. I lost a roommate as well.

I picked up a new sport (or three), I moved away from the particulars of my childhood faith, I bought my first car, I’ve driven across the country twice, I’ve poured into countless lives and I’ve talked to at least 10 people while they worked through a decision to pursue a closer relationship with their Creator.

I’ve seen a whole lot happen – 9/11, a new war, Katrina, Virginia Tech, the Indian Ocean Tsunami & Columbine.

I’m very much looking forward to a year outside of Western Pennsylvania as well as the next 9 or 10 years. Except the next part involves me turning 30. Gurk.

Noden Arrowsmith (Roy’s dad) – today

&

Kurt Vonnegut – April 11th; I just found out today… stinking West Virginia

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don’t hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before during
and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything’s getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated.
You can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there’s something in horoscopes,
UFO’s and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha
Mohammed and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher although we think
his good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same,
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation sin heaven hell God and salvation.

We believe that after death comes The Nothing
because when you ask the dead what happens
they say Nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it’s compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What’s selected is average.
What’s average is normal.
What’s normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between
warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It’s only his behaviour that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth
that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust. History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds.

[Stolen from My Wife]