Well, well. It is March, after all.

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Happened to read two interesting takes on the whole concept of good manners, and it underscores something I’ve thought modern, “civilized” people should always keep in mind: We’re skating on thin ice if we’re relying on Niceness to keep us out of trouble.

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Just to be clear, when someone posits in a work of fiction that Christ had a family, it spins off a mega-million dollar global discussion. When someone rediscovers an ancient work of Gnostic literature, National Geographic makes sure to do a big presentation of this “new gospel” in time for Easter.

But when archaeologists uncover fortifications in Jerusalem that support the Biblical accounts of Solomon and David, … well, have YOU heard much about it?

Good rundown on the underwhelming media coverage at GetReligion.

This was the quote today in “Daily Lives **” and I thought it was pretty appropriate as we get a little further into Lent:

Nothing done in humility for the sake of God is bad. But things and pursuits differ. Everything not strictly necessary is a hindrance to salvation — everything, that is to say, that does not contribute to the soul’s salvation or to the body’s life. For it is not food, but gluttony, that is bad; not money, but attachment to it; not speech, but idle talk; not the world’s delights, but dissipation; not love of one’s family, but the neglect of God that such love may produce; not the clothes worn only for covering and protection from cold and heat, but those that are excessive and costly; not the houses that also protect us from heat and cold, as well as from anything human or animal that might harm us, but houses with two or three floors, large and expensive; not owning something, but owning it when it has no vital use for us.

– St. Peter of Damascus

Last point about Avatar I wanted to make: Movie-makers have had a lot of fun blurring the lines between the real world and artificial worlds. Only recently have they been doing the same thing with real and artificial selves. And I think there’s a reason for that. Only in the age of online communities and next-level gameplaying does it make sense to want to discuss the implications of surrogates.

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Saw “Avatar” two weeks ago, and some observations about it stay with me  — some things it was trying to say, some things it did say, and the differential between the two.

(Two quick caveats: 1 - This will include spoilers. 2 - I’m not sure it will make sense if you haven’t seen the movie.) (Come to think of it, I’m not sure it’ll make THAT much sense even if you have. But I’m wasting keystrokes ..)

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Via the Orthodox convert list (*), a Gallup poll that studied how much people in different states attend church regularly — HERE. Mississippi was at the top with 63% weekly church-goers; Vermont at the bottom with 23%.

Not a lot of surprises there. Just as you might think, southerners went to church the most, except for Utah, which tied for third place at 56% attendance. The bottom ten were a little more divergent: mostly New England, but also Nevada, Hawaii and — surprisingly to me — Alaska (although attendance went up by 3% from 2008-2009).
Other stuff:

• Their bottom line analysis: Despite how much people move around from state to state, “substantial state differences in churchgoing behavior persist.”
• Ethnically broken down, blacks attend church weekly the most (43%), followed by Hispanics (40%), whites (33%) and Asians (20%). (Different poll — HERE)
• Also from that poll, only 53% of the people who say that religion is an important part of their daily life go to church weekly.
• Overall, church attendance has gone up by 0.7% this year (which is probably why you won’t hear these poll results announced in the news).
• Saving lookup time for my homies: Missouri weekly church attendance: 44%; Kansas 46%; Indiana: 44%; Illinois: 42%; California: 35%.

Just thought it was interesting. Link plus map HERE.

I’m very sleepy as I write this. A sudden snowstorm and temperature drop has absolutely forced me (oh darn!) to hole up in the den and turn the space-heater up to 90. The realization that this is the last day to have any dairy products before Lent meant I filled up on some fine cheesy potatoes and thick creamy soups at coffee hour. And since it’s also Valentine’s Day, Greg and I each picked out a special sweet indulgence to have. Mine was a slice of banana cream pie, and now all the caffeine in my teapot can’t fight its way through the starch-and-sugar fuzziness and fend off the strong impulse to nap.

So it’s bothersome that what I thought would be a quick little blog entry to do — checking up on the real saint whose day we’re celebrating — turned out to be complicated.

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I just found out that Fr. Jack Sparks passed away on Monday. What a loss for us all! He was such a merry soul. He had this way of making the sign of the cross on your forehead and then giving it a little smack to make it sink it. It worked. (except in my case, he probably should have hit harder)
Podcast HERE for those who want to remember this dear man.
Memory eternal.

I just added a short quote by Frederica Mathewes-Green to the rotating list of quotes that show up at right, and it reminded me of one of the most basic things about Christians that I think non-Christians get wrong. Or at least, I hope they do.
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