BTW, check out Mark Palmer's refreshing post on Lent and, incidentally, The Passion debacle. DO check the comments also.

My blog has been very BLAHg of late.......such is the fruit of sifting through the days, trying to ascertain whether or not I have anything of import to say.

Just saw The Passion with my Fitte Klubbe bros tonight. Don't really know what I can say at this point. I am in digestion mode. Overall....initial reaction....intense, grotesque, "poetic" (a la CMarsh).....I was deeply uprooted out of my bosom. I can't form much in the way of words at present. One of the few movies in which you enter knowing it's not the "feel good movie of the year" and you leave speechless for all the right reasons.

Talk about a tale of two worlds.........

I spent this past Sunday morn at a partner church "preachin".........nice peeps, but reminiscent of the days of yore when I was mired in a stifling traditionalism that took precedence over vibrant Xanity. Not a rap on these bros and sisses in Christ, just an observation.

Contrast that with the Hester community.....where spontaneous communion can break out at any time sans adjacent broken loaf on the counter and found juice in frijj. Vega-dogg got a piece of the action as well.

We started our gathering last night with a focused communion with Sx's, the loaf and the wine. I did not realize till my conversation with a first-time guest to our community (after the gathering was over) that neither she nor I took communion (I was playing the git-tar during it). When she brought it up, asking if she could take part in it- I thought "Why not?" I found the left over loaf tucked amongst the dishes and various and sundry foodstuffs....made my way throught he conversations in the kitchen and fetched the drink. I asked her if she wanted to find a Sx to read- she did and right there in the middle of the activity, we took communion, three hours later. I thought that rocked.....focused communion on demand.

Vega took communion too for the first time......Cathy said she accosted the broken loaf and scarffed it down, much to everyone's delight.

Today she (Vega) spent the day pooting and doing her business. I think she hasn't totally written this Christianity thing off, even if the elements didn't agree with her.

In America now, "evangelical" is just another political wing buying or being bought. What a bunch of tripe.

AN OFFERING TO ISHTAR

The Super Bowl and Goddess Worship

How about this.........how about there being something more to this Janet Jackson SuperBoob fiasco than just a publicity stunt or a cunning advertisement? What's left after we expend our reserves of energy and inquiry into whether or not CBS knew about it (when they admit they didn't) and whether or not the MTV-produced Jackson/Timberlake duo were setting it up ahead of time (which they admittedly were). What if the "Who Knew-We Sure Didn't" tack is just a diversion anyway to subtly layer a more esoteric meaning to the night?

I know for some of you, this might be a registered absurdity on your radar screen, but bear with me.

It should go without persuasive effort on my behalf that the hyper-sexualized environs surrounding the Super Bowl extravaganza took center stage, upending the game itself in attention and focus. Take for example the "Will It Or Won't It Air" hype attending the much-bally-hooed Lingerie Bowl in the weeks preceding the game. Super Bowl fans (or their unwitting families) would be inundated -willingly or by proxy- by the unending tirade of one sexual image/innuendo after another in an attempt to sell a product. THEN, we got to behold various vixens and nubile ninnies grope for their crotches and grind and call that music and dancing.

With that backdrop comes the halftime bomb set........Justin Timberlake singing the lyric, "Going to have you naked by the end of this song." and then reaching and tearing off what was obviously a ready-to-rip part of Jackson's garment covering her right breast.

There is great intention in this moment of exposure and it is layered in many contextual meanings that delve deeper than is currently being bantered about. In the pictures of the incident that are now surfacing on the 'Net, Matt Drudge shows a close up that reveals, in my opinion, the esoteric dynamics of this scenario. To further understand my thesis, I encourage you to now go to Drudge's report here. BE FOREWARNED......IT CONTAINS JANET JACKSON'S NUDE BREAST. But 800,000,000+ saw it without being warned and we have a greater purpose here.

If you notice in the close-up, Jackson has taken the pain and time to adorn her nipple with a piercing. This piercing is not just an arbitrary selection of jewelry either. The piece is a sunburst, with eight points or rays radiating outward. Not surprisingly enough, the ancient Babylonians preceded Ms. Jackson in their meaning behind the symbol, though their occult (hidden) meaning is cogently applied and tied into the present.

In Mesopotamia, the eight-pointed rosette and star would become the symbol for the fertility goddess Ishtar/Isis/Ashtarte/Inanna and her star, Venus. (She's also known as the Babylonian Great Goddess, Star, Light of the World, Righteous Judge, Lawgiver, Bestower of Strength, Lady of Victory, Forgiver of Sins, Mother of Harlots, Compassionate Prostitute, Framer of All Decrees, Mother of the Fruitful Breast). It's curious that Ishtar/Isis is often depicted in a breast-offering pose.

In one myth surrounding her, Ishtar goes on a journey to the underworld where she goes through a ritual and is killed by her sister who was the queen of the underworld. She supposedly goes to look for her husband Tammuz. After smashing through the gates, she has to go through the ritual of being slowly stripped naked before she is allowed to go.

Ishtar was the most important goddess of the Near East and Asia. Women would prostitute themselves at her temple for her, not unlike the many young female artists who prostitute themselves today at the temple of fame and fortune for the gods of Sony, Dreamworks and Columbia as they cavort about in the videodrome in the attire becoming of such. Of course such worship of Ishtar/Astarte was an abomination to the LORD as outlined in 1 and 2 Kings.

I suppose we the sheeple are to continue suckling at the breast of a deity condemned and dead, consuming ad infinitum as we are pushed into the abyss of hedonism and endless consumerism. This really is the Matrix, and, well, I wanna be weaned.

SUPER BOOB XXXVIII

Can you imagine all the church Super Bowl parties who didn't have a little Bible-study-thingy at halftime? While we were talking about what the world values by virtue of observing its behavior during the mega-spectacle of the Stupor Bowl, Jan-Michael Jackson was busy poppin' a boob for close to 800,000,000 worldwide viewers. As if we needed to say anything at all.

An accident? Harrumph! TIVO reported it's highest EVER spike in live instant replay/rewind. I guess now we know whose commercial stole the proverbial show this year. Additionally, the song, "Rock Your Body," has as its final lyric this deeply meaningful and noble intention: "Going to have you naked by the end of this song."