SortaCrunchy

#STOPSOPA

Normally, I would be posting What I Wore Wednesday today, but not today. January 18th is SOPA STRIKE DAY. I can't figure out how to blackout SortaCrunchy and although stopping SOPA/PIPA is terribly important, I don't want to take the uber-dramatic step of breaking my blog forever.

Instead, I'll show this funny video that conveys the importance of speaking out against SOPA/PIPA. It's really not enough to post videos and links to your blog, Facebook, and Twitter. You really MUST call your reps. I've already called mine.

Sidenote: I've called my senators dozens of times on various votes, and I've always spoken directly to a nice, helpful staffer. Interestingly, PIPA supporter Senator Inhofe's (R-OK) office doesn't seem to be taking calls today. That's a first.

Anyway, watch the video, pass it on (or not), but most importantly, CALL YOUR REPS! Here's how.

Comments closed. Call your reps and tell THEM your thoughts!

We Aren't The Problem, We Are The Answer: Jen Hatmaker's Seven

Here's a funny story about me and Jen Hatmaker:

Some of you may know Missy and I are quite good friends. There are some areas where our opinions diverge, but yeah, when it comes down to it, we are heart sisters. (Hope I'm not overstepping here, Miss.)

After I read and taught Jen Hatmaker's study Interrupted, I emailed Missy because I knew she knew Jen. I told her about how much I loved it and how Jen seemed like just the coolest person and basically I just want to be her when I grow up (even though she is just about one year older than me). Missy wrote back, "You should friend her on Facebook - she'll friend anyone."

So I did. I looked up her profile with her pretty head shot and friend requested her and sent along a little message about how I was teaching the Interrupted study and I just had been so moved and changed by her message and I just thought she was the world's greatest and oh, hey! you went to Oklahoma Baptist University and so did my sister-in-law and we have a mutual friend in Missy and on and on. I nervously hit "Send Message." I had never friend requested a total stranger before, let alone a well-known author and speaker.

And I waited.

And I waited.

NOTHING.

And then I started to feel like a real idiot.

Weeks went by and after being a little miffed at Missy for the "she'll friend anyone" encouragement, I kind of forgot about it. Until one day, I got a notification that Jen had accepted by friend request on Facebook. I read her wall and went from huffy to sheepish in about two seconds.

As it turned out, she was on a long Facebook break when I had friend requested her. She wasn't being snobby, she wasn't being un-approachable. She was doing something pretty noble - an experiment for her next book: 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

When I sent her the Facebook friend request last year, she was in the middle of an incredible experiment to give up the TOO MUCH of our culture. I'm delighted to have gotten the change to review this release because I know (!!!) you are going to connect with her message.

In the opening, she writes about the genesis for this experiment, how she realized that even though she and her husband Brandon had left the large church they were serving at in Austin to start Austin New Church with the simple mantra: "Love your neighbor, serve your city," she began to realize that she had never intentionally surrendered the comforts of her life.

When she considered the amounts of excess in her life, she identified some areas we have too much of in our culture: food, clothes, possessions, media, waste, spending, stress. Then she decided to see what would happen if she intentionally fasted from the excess:

Seven months, seven areas, reduced to seven simple choices. I'm embarking on a journey of less. It's time to purge the junk and pare down to what is necessary. Seven will be an exercise in simplicity with one goal: to create space for the Kingdom of God to break through.

What follows is an INCREDIBLE read, my friends. Really, truly incredible.

I treasure Jen's writing because she is 1) seriously hilarious and 2) unflinchingly honest. Although the topic practically begs for it, there is not one trace of self-righteousness to be found. That's the truth. She records how the experiment unfolds, confessing the times she breaks the rules and sharing how irritable her family got at various points as they were dragged along in her crazy.

My heart welled up as she wrote about things I've long been passionate about: real food, spending less (or nothing!) on clothing, creation care, consumerism, Sabbath rest ... just about anything I've ever written about, she covers here and ohsomuch more.

Near the end of the book, she shares some reflections that are so, so important that I am straining to share it with you in the entirety. It would be an egregious violation of copyright law, so I'll try to sum up ... She talks about how most of us, we cry over the orphan crisis and we feel sick over child trafficking. We cringe at how much we spend on birthday parties, knowing there are children starving everywhere. We read Shane Claiborne and feel depressed for days. We know we are living the MORE MORE MORE life our culture offers, and we feel so much tension about what to do about it.

Jen writes:

Hear this: I don't think God wants you to be at war with yourself.

He sent the Prince of Peace to soothe those tumultuous waters already. Self-deprecation is a cruel response to Jesus, who died to make us righteous. Guilt is not Jesus' medium.

....

We're so conditioned to being the problem that we've forgotten that we are actually the answer. God is not angry at you; how could he possibly be? You're his daughter, his son, you're on the team. Don't imagine he is sitting us all down for a lecture. Rather, he's staging a rally, gathering the troops. The church is rising like a phoenix right now, collecting speed and strength and power.

THIS is the life-giving, hope-bringing, love-empowering message of Seven. It is NOT a lecture. You will not walk away from it feeling like crap. You will be inspired. If nothing else, you'll be entertained.

How did the whole experiment play out? Did she go back to Facebook and eating out and watching TV?

You'll have to read the book to find out.

And I'm giving one of you the chance to get your own copy of 7 , straight from my little house on the plains to yours. All you have to do is leave a comment! In the spirit of simple, we'll keep it simple. No bonus entries, no thought-provoking questions that require a short essay in the comments. Just one comment. I'll draw a winner next Sunday.

In the meantime, here's to allowing ourselves to be OPEN to the crazy that comes when you are surrendered to the Kingdom of God!

 

It's not about Happy Valley.

image by Capture Queen

I don't watch the news anymore.

I'll own up to the irresponsibility in that, I guess. My temperament is prone to a level of empathy so intense that avoiding the news is a healthy boundary for me. It seems I'm becoming more sensitive to the pain and suffering of others as I get older and hearing the stories or even reading the ticker at the bottom of the screen ... I just can't.

So I'll admit I knew nothing of the heartbreak and horror coming out of State College until yesterday when a friend emailed to talk about the riots there. For the sake of conversation, I clicked around through the articles online and spent the rest of the day nauseated and shaking with anger.

My husband and I are intimately familiar with the subculture that is college football coaching. Even when we were entrenched in it, we joked about the Mafia-esque power structures. Our closest friends were always other families on staff. It was hard to have close friends outside of that staff because no one else understood what that life was like.

When I started writing this post, I thought I might tell how when he was in his twenties, Kyle was a GA for a Division I football program. I thought I might talk about Coach McQueary and how in the midst of that culture, you can become convinced that your entire future, everything you've worked so hard for, everything that you want so badly for your life, it all becomes bigger than life and it messes with your mind and you absolutely lose touch with reality.

But you know what?

This isn't about Happy Valley.

This isn't about Coach McQueary or Jerry Sandusky or Joe Paterno or Penn State. This isn't about college football.

This is about child sex abuse and we need to call it out for what it is. It's easier to make this about college football. It's easier to make this about the Catholic church. It's easier to make jokes about the creepy uncle in the family. It's easier because the facts of child sex abuse are so staggering, so blisteringly real that no one wants to really talk about it. Including me.

But, see, that's the real problem. That's what this is about.

The facts are

• 1 in 4 girls will be sexually abused before she turns 18.
• More than 90% of child sex abuse is perpetrated by someone the child knows and trusts.
• 20% of child sex abuse victims are under the age of 8.

(All of these facts are from Darkness to Light. Please go read more there.)

Stories like the one coming out of Penn State shake us to our core, but we are still allowed a little distance from it. We dwell on the "how could he?" and the "how could they?" because it's less terrifying than facing the reality that it could just as easily happen to one of our children.

How do we, as parents, respond to this?

First of all, even if (like me) you don't want to, you read books like Gavin de Becker's Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane). (No, I haven't read it yes. Yes, I'm going to now.) At the heart of de Becker's book is the idea that we have to listen to that instinct that tells us when something isn't right, and we must act on it and we must teach our children to act on it.

Beyond teaching ourselves and our children to trust the gift of instinct, we have open our eyes to the reality that abuse is most often perpetrated by someone who is trusted and even loved. In the comments of Elizabeth Esther's post on this yesterday, someone left a link to this article at Get Religion. There is a quote from former FBI agent Ken Lanning that we all need to take to heart:

According to Lanning, who spent 35 years profiling pedophiles, a hallmark of “acquaintance molesters” is that they tend to be deeply trusted and even beloved. They are not strangers, but “one of us.” They are expert at seducing children and are almost as expert at seducing adults, including parents, into believing in them.

“How do we say to kids, ‘The only way these people differ is, they will be nicer to you than most adults?’” Lanning says. “They will listen to you, and shower you with attention and kindness, and so I want you to watch out for this evil <expletive>.’”

Until we rid ourselves of the myth of the “predator” in the raincoat preying on angelic victims, our discernment will continue to be clouded, says Lanning, who wrote a Justice Department-sponsored manual, “Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis.” And so will our judgment.

Finally, and this might be the most daunting task of all, we must raise up a generation that is willing to stand up for the victim and to speak out for the powerless, even when it is costly and risky.

All that is needed for evil to flourish is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke

Let's engrave that wisdom on our hearts and on the hearts of our children. The systems in place to protect and bring healing to the victims of sexual abuse and rape in this country are weak at best. But we have the power to change that through the parenting choices we make today. By creating homes that emphasize compassion, empathy, and courage, we can raise up the next generation of coaches and pastors, police officers and district attorneys, teachers and doctors, men and women who are unable to turn away from sex abuse (suspected or confirmed) without doing something.

This is hard to post. This is uncomfortable to talk about. I wish I didn't need to read Protecting the Gift. I wish I didn't have to make my children aware that this is a very real thing. But I look at my two daughters and each of their little best friends. Which one of those four could become a victim of sex abuse? I don't have the luxury of hurling anger at Happy Valley while pretending that this doesn't happen right where I live.

From the moment I read the graphic news reports yesterday, I've been crying out to God in my heart that He would redeem this unspeakable abuse in the lives of these children. This is the hardest part of faith for me - believing that God can redeem unimaginable destruction. But still, I pray. I believe He can redeem even the worst.

And I believe we can become part of the redemption process by empowering ourselves and our children to recognize, guard against, and speak out about the sexual abuse of children. Let's push hard against the boulders that tempt us to choose the path of least resistance. The powerless, the defenseless, the ones who had no choice ... they are counting on us to make the right choice. Every time. No matter the cost. 

 

prelude to the gift guide

For several years, I've dreamed of sharing my enthusiasm for gifts created by hand with thoughtfulness and intention by talented artists around the world. Each year when store ads start to clutter the counter-tops of homes, I feel a little sad for those who don't know that there is a world beyond the mass-produced, unimaginative, meaningless stuff you'll find at the big box store.

I have very big feelings about the pervasiveness of consumption and consumerism in our culture. As you all know, we have spent the better part of 2011 working through every room in our home to untangle ourselves more and more from all the stuff that accumulates. For me to make a recommendation for you to buy something is a really, really big deal to me. There is a responsibility there that I don't take lightly.

Some of you may remember that my stance against stuff began when I watched The Story of Stuff several years ago. In that short digital film, Anne Leonard advocates for another way. She encourages all of us to intentionally step out of the mass-production-mass-consumption cycle and eat, think, and shop in a new way. We are not powerless victims of corporate America. We have more power than we think to enact change.

Within a economic system that finds its roots in capitalism, one of the biggest acts of change we can make is choosing to vote with our dollars. This hope for change that rests in my hands as well as in yours is exactly why I chose to seek out private sponsorship of SortaCrunchy rather than corporate, and it's why I wanted to create this gift guide.

Now, I realize it's only the beginning of November and some of you are shuddering against me for pushing you too close to the holiday season, but part of voting with your purchases is planning ahead. Scouring Amazon on December 19th or racing through Target on December 23rd will never result in the kind of purchases that will change our world. Thoughtful budgeting and early shopping are practices that allow us the freedom to make purchases that we feel good about and that are powerful parts of another way.

And so, this mini-manifesto is simply to say thank you in advance for understanding why this gift guide is so important to me. I'll be sharing more about the businesses featured in the guide throughout the season, and I wanted to just visit with you about before the season really takes off!

image by lady dragonfly

dear pink scar

Dear pink scar,

The other day I realized I can hardly see you anymore. It makes sense, I guess. It has been four years, after all, since I was opened last. Four years have passed since a panic attack on the way to the OR, since arms stripped down, since naked under surgical sheets, since breathing deep and clinging to dignity and composure. Four years since "some pressure" and tug and pull and "She's here!" and being carefully and artfully sewn back together.

So it's been four years and this Thank You note has been a long time coming.

Dear pink scar, thank you.

Thank you for reminding me that what seems to be the easy way out is filled with its own brand of terror and risk.

Call-In To Stop Child Slavery - TODAY!

The truth is, I hate using the phone.

This might surprise you, but I'm a bit of a phone-phobe. I hate calling to make doctor's appointments, I hate calling customer service, I hate calling strangers about anything, anytime, always.

Even our fears and phobias can be redeemed though, right?

I'm asking all of you - every single one of you who are US citizens - to join me today in overwhelming the phones of our Congress people with support for the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. YES, even you fellow phone-phobes! People who have been trafficked have been robbed of so much - dignity, freedom, hope, and a voice. Whether you hate the phone or use it copiously, YOU have a voice and you can use that voice TODAY to stand up for people - adults and children alike - who have been victims of trafficking.

Why today?

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 must be renewed every few years. The current TVPA expires on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30. That's why today is the day to call in to your representatives in Washington to ask them to support these bills.

Everything you need to know - every single thing - is available to you today from World Vision. You can see which Senators have already co-sponsored the TVPRA (and if yours have, call to thank them!), and you can see who hasn't. They have a link to how you can quickly look up your Representatives and a sample script.

And because I am a phone-phobe, I wouldn't ask you to do something I haven't already done. It took five minutes, no kidding, start to finish to look up my Senators and Representative AND to make the phone calls. The staffers were friendly and efficient and though my hands shook a bit as I dialed, I did it.

Call-in to stop child slavery, friends. It's simple and powerful and meaningful. Pick up your phone and call now.

Blessings.

photo source

#Ask5for5 - YOU can do this!

I am honored to join in the Ask5for5 campaign today. Here to explain how it works is Sarah Lennsen:

Thank you, SortaCrunchy, and nearly 150 other bloggers from around the world for allowing me to share a story with you today, during Social Media Week.

A hungry child in East Africa can't wait. Her hunger consumes her while we decide if we'll respond and save her life. In Somalia, children are stumbling along for days, even weeks, on dangerous roads and with empty stomachs in search of food and water. Their crops failed for the third year in a row. All their animals died. They lost everything. Thousands are dying along the road before they find help in refugee camps. 

At my house, when my three children are hungry, they wait minutes for food, maybe an hour if dinner is approaching. Children affected by the food crisis in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia aren't so lucky. Did you know that the worst drought in 60 years is ravaging whole countries right now, as you read this? Famine, a term not used lightly, has been declared in Somalia. This is the world's first famine in 20 years.12.4 million people are in need of emergency assistance and over 29,000 children have died in the last three months alone. A child is dying every 5 minutes. It it estimated that 750,000 people could die before this famine is over. Take a moment and let that settle in.

The media plays a major role in disasters. They have the power to draw the attention of society to respond--or not. Unfortunately, this horrific disaster has become merely a footnote in most national media outlets. News of the U.S. national debt squabble and the latest celebrity's baby bump dominate headlines. That is why I am thrilled that nearly 150 bloggers from all over the world are joining together today to use the power of social media to make their own headlines; to share the urgent need of the almost forgotten with their blog readers. Humans have the capacity to care deeply for those who are suffering, but in a situation like this when the numbers are too huge to grasp and the people so far away, we often feel like the little we can do will be a drop in the ocean, and don't do anything at all.

When news of the famine first hit the news in late July, I selfishly avoided it. I didn't want to read about it or hear about it because I knew I would feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable. I wanted to protect myself. I knew I would need to do something if I knew what was really happening. You see, this food crisis is personal. I have a 4-year-old son and a 1 yr-old daughter who were adopted from Ethiopia and born in regions now affected by the drought. If my children still lived in their home villages, they would be two of the 12.4 million. My children: extremely hungry and malnourished? Gulp. I think any one of us would do anything we could for our hungry child. But would you do something for another mother's hungry child?

My friend and World Vision staffer, Jon Warren, was recently in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya--the largest refugee camp in the world with over 400,000 people. He told me the story of Isnino Siyat, 22, a mother who walked for 10 days and nights with her husband, 1 yr-old-baby, Suleiman, and 4 yr.-old son Adan Hussein, fleeing the drought in Somalia. When she arrived at Dadaab, she built the family a shelter with borrowed materials while carrying her baby on her back. Even her dress is borrowed. As she sat in the shelter on her second night in camp she told Jon, "I left because of hunger. It is a very horrible drought which finished both our livestock and our farm." The family lost their 5 cows and 10 goats one by one over 3 months, as grazing lands dried up. "We don't have enough food now...our food is finished. I am really worried about the future of my children and myself if the situation continues."

 

Will you help a child like Baby Suleiman? Ask5for5 is a dream built upon the belief that you will.

That something I knew I would need to do became a campaign called #Ask5for5 to raise awareness and funds for famine and drought victims. The concept is simple, give $5 and ask five of your friends to give $5, and then they each ask five of their friends to give $5 and so on--in nine generations of 5x5x5...we could raise $2.4 Million! In one month, over 750 people have donated over $25,000! I set up a fundraiser at See Your Impact and 100% of the funds will go to World Vision, an organization that has been fighting hunger in the Horn of Africa for decades and will continue long after this famine has ended. Donations can multiply up to 5 times in impact by government grants to help provide emergency food, clean water, agricultural support, healthcare, and other vital assistance to children and families suffering in the Horn.

I need you to help me save lives. It's so so simple; here's what you need to do:

1. Donate $5 or more on this page (http://seeyourimpact.org/members/ask5for5)
2. Send an email to your friends and ask them to join us.
3. Share #Ask5for5 on Facebook and Twitter!

I'm looking for another 100 bloggers to share this post on their blogs throughout Social Media Week. Email me at ask5for5@gmail.com if you're interested in participating this week.

A hungry child doesn't wait. She doesn't wait for us to finish the other things on our to-do list, or get to it next month when we might have a little more money to give. She doesn't wait for us to decide if she's important enough to deserve a response. She will only wait as long as her weakened little body will hold on...please respond now and help save her life. Ask 5 for 5.

Thank you on behalf of all of those who will be helped--you are saving lives and changing history.


p.s. Please don't move on to the next website before you donate and email your friends right now. It only takes 5 minutes and just $5, and if you're life is busy like mine, you probably won't get back to it later. Let's not be a generation that ignores hundreds of thousands of starving people, instead let's leave a legacy of compassion. You have the opportunity to save a life today!

Guest Blogger: Sarah Lenssen from #Ask5for5
Family photos by Mike Fiechtner Photography

What Am I To Do with This First-World Life?

Timely thoughts today from The Hippie Housewife

Sometimes the question overwhelms me. I want to help in some small way, to meet the endless needs both near and far, but I don't know where to start.

My desire to help everyone leaves me paralyzed, and so I help no one.

How do I leave behind this stage of being overwhelmed and move intentionally into a more holistic method of social justice? I don't have all the answers - maybe I don't have any - but I know that every journey starts with just one step.

One step ... and then the next. I can do that.

Acknowledge the needs

At times I am tempted to close my eyes and ears to the constant onslaught of needs. So many needs, so much pain, but our hearts should break over these things. The first step on this journey must always be to acknowledge that there is something very wrong with this world. This is not a cause for me to feel guilty for what I do have, but to daily strive to do something to help through everyday acts of mercy and justice.

Examine and pray

After acknowledging the need, I must refrain from the temptation to try to be all things to all people. I am only a small part of a much larger whole. Here I pause for a moment to pray for God's leading and to evaluate my strengths. How has God gifted me? What has He placed on my heart? Is there something in particular weighing on my mind? While there is always cause to push ourselves beyond our comfort zones, I can be most effective if I discover, acknowledge, and build on my own individual strengths.

Live intentionally

It always comes down to intentional living, doesn't it? The choices we make affect not only ourselves, but our brothers and sisters throughout the world. We can help through our consumer and lifestyle choices, such as:

• using our purchasing power wisely (buying fair trade, used, handmade, and/or local)
• living with less so we have more to give
• making creation care a priority

Focus on one thing It is easy to get stuck in the endless cycle of awareness leading to being overwhelmed leading to paralysis. Instead of giving up due to the enormity of it all, I can focus on changing one thing at a time. Just as with habit formation, making one change at a time is both less overwhelming and more sustainable in the long run. Instead of trying to jump to the end, I will take the first step, then focus on the next thing, all the while heading in the right direction.  

Bloom where you are planted

Sometimes I get trapped in the "I have to go somewhere to serve" mindset. I have to move to Calcutta and live among the poor like Mother Teresa did. I have to move downtown into an intentional community like Shane Claiborne. I have to move to Uganda and open my home to the orphaned children like Katie did. But with a husband in school and two young children, moving isn't much of an option at this point. I can, however, bloom where I am planted. I can open my eyes to the poverty, of a different sort, that exists in the suburbs. I can trust that God has placed me where I am and can use me right here. I can find community even here, meet needs even here.  

Live joyously

When our lives are full of joy, peace, and love, the same overflows in our relationships and interactions with others. We can let go of any sense of guilt and instead live from a place of awareness and action within the bigger picture of an authentic, joy-filled, God-honouring life. We can walk justly instead of trying to save everyone. We can help not out of pity, but out of love; not scales being tipped, but a cup overflowing. We will see others through the eyes of their compassionate Creator, and we will love them as ourselves.

These steps I can take. Acknowledge the needs, prayerfully examine where I can best help, and then live intentionally, focusing on one thing at a time. I can do this from where I am and out of joyful love.  

Recommended reading to further the journey:

Social Justice Handbook: Small Steps for a Better World by Mae Elise Cannon

Mercy Rising: Simple Ways to Practice Justice and Compassion by Amber Robinson

When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor. . .and Yourself by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett

Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter; when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?" Isaiah 58: 6-7

_________________________

Cynthia is the mother of two little boys, an inquisitive preschooler and an energetic toddler. She blogs at The Hippie Housewife, where she shares her thoughts on attachment parenting, natural living, life as a Jesus-follower, and more, all tied together through her journey towards a more intentional life.

image source: nuckolls

Breastfeeding as Worship

Today kicks off World Breastfeeding Week! I'm running around like crazy getting ready to leave for San Diego/BlogHer 2011, so I am reaching into the archives to republish one of my favorite breastfeeding posts, originally published as an entry in the Carnival of Nursing in Public, July 2010:

As someone who has been writing about breastfeeding from the outset of blogging, I was thrilled to see a Carnival of Nursing in Public take shape.  I hesitated on participating for a moment because my youngest weaned a year ago.  The matter of nursing in public and the bigger issues of our culture's stunted growth in this area, however, continues to compel me to speak on the topic.

 As I skimmed the list of post ideas for the carnival, one suggestion caught my eye - breastfeeding and religion.  I was born, raised, and currently live in the Bible Belt, and I've been a practicing Southern Baptist for each of my thirty-three years on this planet. 

I consider myself well-acquainted with evangelical Christian culture*, and I would feel comfortable with saying that many evangelical women feel uncomfortable with nursing in public.

Why?

• Fear of being immodest.

• Fear of tempting a man to sin with lustful thoughts upon seeing a flash of breast.

• Fear of making people uncomfortable with the simple act of nurturing and nourishing a child in the very way our Creator God designed our bodies to be able to do.

Ultimately, we have collectively swallowed our culture's poisoned message that declares breasts to be singularly sexual, therefore breastfeeding is something to be covered.  

I know so many evangelical Christian families who are taking great care to raise their children in a Christian worldview.  Everything from education curriculum to a trip through the mall is filtered through the lens of God's Word, but in the matter of breastfeeding, we are falling far short. 

Entirely too many contemporary Christians see the body of a woman exactly the same way our culture does . . . "a breast is a breast -- it's a sexual thing."  Yet this sentiment stands in direct opposition to God's Truth as revealed through creation. 

God's Word acknowledges briefly the sensual allure of breasts in the Song of Songs - the Bible's love story filled with poetry and figurative language.  But we find far more mentions of breasts fulfilling the role of nourishment mentioned in the pages of Scripture (see 1 Kings 3:21, Job 3:12, Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 66:10-11, and Luke 11:27 for starters).

To agree with our culture's corrupted view of breasts and breastfeeding is to deny God's beautiful, exquisite design. According to His perfect plan, breasts are dual-purposed wonders of creation, perfect evidence of a holy blend of function and form.  Oh, how it must grieve the heart of God to see what we - even we!  Those called according to His Name! - have allowed our thinking to become regarding His incredible design.

What I would like to suggest to my brothers and sisters in the faith today is that we embrace a shift in paradigm. 

• What if we, the Body of Christ, reject the notion that breasts are merely sexual things? 

• What if we, His children, decide to agree with God that His plan for feeding our babies and children is, indeed, a wonderful plan? 

• What if we, the Church, declared that the act of breastfeeding reveals God's glory?  What if went so far as to say that because it invites communion with the Creator, because it glorifies Him, and because it speaks volumes about the Sustainer of Life, that breastfeeding is a beautiful act of worship . . . an act of worship to be honored, not hidden; an act of worship to be encouraged, not embarrassed of?

It begins with you, nursing mama.  This little revolution begins when you grab hold of that truth that breastfeeding your child reveals the glory of God's creation.  Breastfeeding is all too often not easy.  Worship sometimes intertwines with sacrifice.  Worship Him through the painful moments and worship Him in the incredible and beautiful and blessed moments.

It continues with you, sister in Christ.  Let's do what we can to support the mamas who are breastfeeding.  Let's offer encouragement and a comfy place to nurse and maintain eye contact when a little one latches on rather than squirming around uncomfortably.  Let's pause and thank God for His perfect design.

And we need you, too, Christian brother.  I would ask you to embrace the fact that part of God's amazing design for women is that breasts can be sexual and life-giving.  I would ask that you see breastfeeding as glorifying to God and know that many women do find it to be a worshipful experience.  I would ask that you not make a big deal out of it if a woman breastfeeds near you - I promise you that no woman will find it offensive if you continue to talk to and interact with her in the same way you were before her little one latched on to eat.

The Church is to be a peculiar people, an assembly of believers called out following The Way.  Can you imagine how beautiful it would be if we were to lead our culture in embracing nursing in public as completely normal, appropriate, and pure?  In my most hopeful of dreams, I imagine a time in the not-too-distant future when a nursing mama needs to feed a little one in public, she knows that nursing in front of Christians means she is nursing amongst friends.

To further the discussion, I would like to recommend:

Why I Nurse at the Mall . . . and at Mass by Kate Wicker
Religion and Breastfeeding: How Breastfeeding Impacts the Religious Woman by Jennifer M. Paquette
Lactivism and Public Breastfeeding by Tim Challies

* I realize that Christian culture varies wildly, both by denomination and geography.  I fully admit to a rather limited scope, and so just know that because I am most familiar with evangelical culture, that is the culture I am most comfortable in addressing.  If you practice a faith or belong to a denomination that is ahead of the curve on normalizing breastfeeding, please share about your experience in the comments!

Resources to Guide Responsible Living

Becoming the Answers to our Prayers, Common Prayer, June

DON'T PANIC. These are the first words in Julie Clawson's Everyday Justice.

She references these words made immortal by the vintage cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with good reason: the journey into responsible living can lead to major feelings of being overwhelmed.

Although I've always flirted with do-gooder type ways, it wasn't until I read Jonathan Merritt's Green Like God that I made the connection between Save The Earth and Save The People Of Earth. He makes the statement that "we often fail to connect consumerism to creation's woes, but when you find one, the other is not far away" (129). Throughout the book, he shows how irresponsible views and treatments of our planet inevitably affect people, too. People who, like you and me, are image bearers of the Creator.

After I read Green Like God, I wanted to discover more about what it meant to live out socially-just living in the context of family. And yes, Julie is right. Once your eyes are opened to the effect our purchases have on the people who made those purchases possible - yeah, some freak-out and panic is going to happen. There is just so much! And I am just one person!