Changes Friday 5

From the RevGals, here's February's First Friday Five.

Many of the RevGals using Blogger are experiencing some chaos this week as they move from Old Blogger to New Blogger. (Is that anything like New Coke?) Change is a given in life, yet it's not easy for any of us. So strap on your seat belts and let's talk about it:

1. Share, if you wish, the biggest change you experienced this past year.

A change I haven't done and won't do until Blogger forces me, is moving to Notorious New, out-of-Beta Blogger.

I don't know about the biggest change from this past year, but amid continuing crazinesses, some happy changes to my immediate ambient environment include finally getting the guest bedroom painted by a friend and getting the rest of the painted furniture repainted by me. Some of the furniture is from my grandparents' house and some is from yard sales; the colors are many and altogether very pleasing to the the artist/designer in me.

2. Talk about a time you changed your mind about something, important or not.

Briefly, after a too-long string of times life happened, twice I asked myself if I wanted to finish the last MDiv year and both times decided not to. Right now I don't want to say more in this public setting, but despite everything, I'm convinced I made the correct decision.

3. Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote a controversial book called "Why Christianity Must Change or Die." Setting aside his ideas—what kind of changes would you like to see in the Church?

Almost four years ago when I was participating in an online book discussion of Kosuke Koyama's Water Buffalo Theology, I listed some challenges that might lead to changes in the church with Ten Theological Issues; without rethinking or even rereading that list, I'll say the increasing clericalization and professionalization of the Protestant Mainline dismays me, as does the way people let doctrinal differences and distinctions distract them from the Way of Jesus Christ. The church needs to learn different styles of being Christian and doing Church doing without conceding to entertainment worship or new-age preaching, to live in the Freedom of Resurrection rather than the chains of death.

4. Have you changed your hairstyle/hair color in the last five years? If so, how many times?

Slightly—trying to decide how to approach that natural change-of-color thing, I've tried highlights and all-over color and combinations of both. About style, I've always been happy my hair is naturally straight and I've again realized it needs to stay long enough to tie or clip up off my neck, esp during warm weather, so I generally get it trimmed no more than an inch each time.

5. What WERE they thinking with that New Coke thing?

Maybe the same thing some of us think when something we do or an aspect of our style has been working well, but we imagine we're stuck in a rut and will get more attention and better response if we change it to something else, maybe just to be different and more noticeable? I don't know, really I do not know about that old New Coke thing. I didn't affect me because I've always preferred diet drinks and probably couldn't have discerned any difference.