Church and Geisha movie

Church was really good this morning. I am really glad I went. The sermon was given by a guest speaker, The Rev. Robert Timberlake, a Presbyterian minister who had just done work in Cape Town, South Africa, to set up a study abroad program for students at Marquette.

He told a lot of stories about the extreme poverty, famine, and horrific living conditions there; and how these conditions inevitably bred much corruption, crime and robbery, of which he and his colleagues were often victims. Yet he also pointed out that South Africa has three living Nobel Peace Prize winners, has a much more liberal constitution than the US, and has an aggressive affirmative action program.

I found this very interesting, although I think I must have missed how it tied into his main point, which was that the main litmus test for a good religious belief should be the compassion and kindness it manifests; the rest is just commentary. A bad religion exudes judgment, intolerance, and a lack of compassion, a belief that poverty is somehow deserved, earned or justified.

Anyway, it was really good to get back to church and to see friends again. Some friends there had been to the Symphony to see the Bolero concert, and a fellow tea lover talked to me about tea that she bought online that was imported from Britain - I think it was called Yorkshire Red - and other teas she orders from Ireland. I also spent a good deal of time perusing the books at the book table (I love that my church not only has an extensive library but a book table with brand new books for sale during the coffee hour every single Sunday!). I bought one for David for Valentine's Day; it was a collection of essays on interpreting the Bible that I thought he'd really like.

Mainly it was really good to be back in such good intellectual, progressive, spiritual energy. I really feel at home at that church, more than I have ever felt anywhere else.

David treated me to a showing of Memoirs of a Geisha today. I thought it was really well done and true to the book. The few omissions/additions were purely for dramatic effect and didn't affect the general feel of the movie. If you are interested in the story but aren't sure you want to read the book, the movie will give you a really good sense of the story. I highly recommend it. It was also really neat to more fully expand the visual images I had made in my own mind by the gorgeous shots they captured of the kimonos, Japanese gardens, and makeup. And strangely, the woman they got to play Hatsumomo, the evil geisha antagonist, looked exactly in the movie how I had her pictured in my mind as I read the book. That was really cool. :)

Okay, time to go to bed now. Hope your week gets off to a good start tomorrow.

XO Darcy