You Are Enough!

by Rev. Laura Barclay

I had the fortune of spending July 4th weekend at a house party with some dear friends and setting off fireworks in the street like a kid. These friends have a 2 year-old daughter, Lily, who is sweet, agreeable, loving, and confident. Lily got her face painted like a butterfly, and when she toddled around and smiled, we all said, "Oh my gosh, you are so cute!"

She looked up at all of us, grinned even bigger and said, "I know!"

I was struck by the beauty of this statement in a world where women (and an increasing amount of men) are told by every form of media they aren't pretty enough, thin enough, strong enough, fit enough, healthy enough or give enough time to their partners, their workplaces, and their kids. The covers of magazines demand we lose "5, 10, 15 pounds now for swimsuit season!" and become "bikini ready."

This child, who is dearly loved by her parents, extended family and friends, knows that she is enough. I worry that her, and other little girls like her, will lose that confidence as they get older and tall enough to see the magazine covers and perceptive enough to notice that most models and many actresses are dangerously skinny.

In Apostle Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica, he states that is proud of the community for their hopeful outlook and expresses sadness at being away from this community. Toward the end of his letter, Paul asks them to continue to "encourage one another and build up each other" (1 Thess. 5:11 NRSV).

This is a fantastic piece of advise for us to follow. If we proclaim to be Christ-followers in a society that can be very shallow, how can we build one another up to be strong against the cultural forces that constantly tell us we aren't good enough?

Consider the following ways to build one another (and yourself) up:

1) Tell your friends and family that you love them regularly.

2) Tell others what you like about them on a regular basis--is it their thoughtfulness, presence, skill, compassion, etc?

3) Drop e-mails, Facebook messages, Tweets, texts or an old-fashioned hand-written postcard or letter to tell someone you love them and are thinking about them! Think about how you feel when you receive a message from a friend and pay it forward!

4) Get rid of the scales and encourage others to do this. Are you eating healthy and exercising? If the answer is yes, then great! Don't measure your worth by a number but by how healthy you feel. If the answer is no, think about ways you can be healthy with your friends that would build one another up, like taking Zumba or Yoga classes together, going on walks after work in groups, rotating cooking healthy meals for one another, or a weekend hiking trip.

5) Make a list of all that you are grateful for at the end of each day. This will end the day on a positive note, and lessen your anxieties. Did any person(s) show up on that list? Then see #3 and let them know!

I hope these tips encourage you to lean into your identity as a beloved child of God and encourage you to help others to do the same!

Game of Thrones & Christians: What's a Christ-Follower to Do?

by Rev. Laura Barclay

A family member of mine recently sent me this article (Can a Christian Watch Game of Thrones?) and asked me to respond. The author argues that the show contains sex, violence and power struggles without the obvious good versus evil struggle contained in works like the blatantly Christian Lord of the Rings where the reader knows who will win. Ultimately, the author, David Gibson, concludes we will have to see how it ends to decide.

I would argue that Game of Thrones is a more realistic fantasy series than Tolkien's work and should be taken seriously by Christians for a number of reasons.

1) Christians, like Game of Thrones fans, lost our hero in the beginning of the story. If one considers the lifespan of the Christian church, our hero, Jesus, dies before the end of the first act. Fans recoiled at (*spoiler alert*) Ned Stark's beheading by a cruel king while two of his daughters watched. Similarly, Jesus was crucified by a historically terrible Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate, while his mother Mary and close friend/Apostle to the Apostles Mary Magdalene stood by him. I think Christians can relate to this dark chapter.

2) Sex and gender relations in Game of Thrones are disturbing and complex, just like the real world. Yes, the show contains content that is at times graphic and unnecessary, but it underscores the unfair way women are treated in Westeros (and, thus, the Middles Ages that author George R. R. Martin based his story upon).  Let us not forget that in the real world, millions of women are sold into slavery and abused. Read Half the Sky to begin to get an idea of the gender inequality that exists at present. It could be argued that fans of the series judge their loyalties to characters based on their interaction with women (Tyrion Lannister and Robb Stark being fan favorites). The empowered leader Khaleesi Daenerys Targaryen is the one everyone wants to be queen, and the knight Brienne is beloved by devoted readers and watchers alike. Similarly, Jesus treated women well in a historically patriarchal era, bringing many into his fold and they, in turn, supported his ministry with their money. In addition, Jesus defends the adulteress against the religious leaders who would stone her and women become important leaders in the fledging church. One more word on sex & Christianity: Roman leaders spread rumors that Christians were incestuous and participated in orgies (because they called each other brother and sister in Christ and exchanged the holy kiss) and accused them of cannibalism (eating the body and blood of Christ).

3) Life on Westeros and Earth can be unfair and violent, but ultimately good will prevail. The Red Wedding scene--(*spoiler alert*) how could so many beloved characters be slaughtered? How could the most seemingly moral family in the series lose so many? Individual like the apostles, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and events like My Lai Massacre, the Holocaust, and far too many other genocides and wars to count tell us that life can be brutal and unfair. Yet hope comes in the response. The world didn't forget the Holocaust--it is taught in schools, in museums, and documentaries. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his ideals are well-known in households across America and the world despite his assassination.  Christians and/or good people are not promised a good life because they are good. They are however, part of the Kingdom of God because they are slowly bringing about God's ideal of love on earth. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Because this is true for our world and Martin is aiming for realism, I'm hopeful this series will tend toward justice in the end.

4) Game of Thrones, like the history of Christianity, is murky in the character of its heros and villains.  Fans spent several seasons hating the Kingslayer, Jaime Lannister, only to begin to almost root for him during season three. In life, there are rarely all bad or all good people. In one of the most chilling books I ever read during my college "Holocaust and the Human Image" class, War and Genocide, the author recounts stories of SS troops in World War II and how they came to participate in the Holocaust. These were normal family men who were persuaded through propoganda and peer pressure to do atrocious things. What the author believed, and my professor who was the child of two Jewish Holocaust survivors taught, was that genocide could happen anywhere and we all need to be vigilant. Subsequently, the Church, Christians, and religious people aren't always good. Any beginning student of history could see this through the Crusades, the Inquisition, atrocities during the Reformation, slavery in the American South, and various other social ills of which the Church and/or some Christians have fallen on the wrong side. The show depicts people as a whole, their good and their bad, just like the real world.

5) Christians need to engage in pop culture. Far too often, fundamentalist Christians have preached against something benign, like Disney, and bring scorn upon the entire religion as a consequence. Moderate and progressive Christians need to be louder about creating venues for discussion about pop culture and the ethics of what is portrayed on screen. If churches, and, by association, Christians, become insular communities who cannot relate to the surrounding culture, they ensure their own death.

These are just a few of the reasons why I'm a fan of Game of Thrones. I hope you'll consider watching it so that we can have nerdy discussions together!