His name is Judah Aguila

Tomorrow we celebrate Judah with our faith community and ceremoniously "give him back" to God. Not a day goes by that I am not unraveled by his beauty and grace and as second children generally aren't as celebrated as their first counterpart, I want to say a few words about this little man and the name that he bears.

With our first son, we chose to pattern our children’s names with Spanish renditions and animal imagery- a common practice in indigenous cultures around the world such as the ancient Hebrews and Native Americans.

We were initially drawn to the way “Judah” sounds but as we explored the biblical character, we were delighted by what we found- especially in the sibling dynamics in the Benjamin/Joseph in Egypt account. Judah acted as an advocate for his brother on more than one occasion. Similarly, Christ as the “Lion of Judah” was an interesting connection that ties Sylas León to his brother.

Judah’s middle name is Aguila- which means Eagle in Spanish. We love the elegant and wild strength of eagles and are drawn to the biblical and mythic imagery around them as something we would desire for our son. Isaiah promises eagle-like animation for those who trust in the Lord as the storms of life rail. Mythically, as in JRR Tolkien’s work and elsewhere, the eagle is a symbol of hope and redemption- “The eagles are coming!”

Already we have seen this in his spirit as he has had a tough start at life with severe eczema episodes- his smile bursts through and engages our despair with pure joy. Our desire is to guide this little Eagle into flight. Knowing that we can’t do it on our own, tomorrow we will invite our faith community to join us in the journey that is the parenting of Judah in love and discovery of his unique markings and how these will be brought to bear in a world that is in need of his beautiful presence.

holy weak

did this little art project for
easter morning at wits end church.

the middle stages of...

current soundtrack

a word on interpretation

“…Precisely because biblical interpretation is political, and because all of us do it out of a tradition (not only a tradition of content, but also a tradition of method), it is vitally important that the text itself (any particular text, or the canon as a whole) be heard as potential corrective to and judgment upon our own interpretations of it. One of our greatest aids in hearing a text afresh is hearing someone else's competing interpretation (often but not always from an alternative approach). Yet, one cannot overemphasize how difficult it is for Christian persons whose sense of identity is self-consciously rooted in a particular interpretation of the Bible to engage in this process of listening to other interpretations.”
- Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, "Feminist Biblical Interpretation," Theology Today 46, no. 2 (1989). 164.

La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc

recently watched "the passion of joan of arc"- a 1928 french silent film. almost the entire film is close shots of faces, some of the most beautiful work i've ever seen capturing the emotional nuances of the human face. absolutely stunning. watch it if you haven't.
the original was lost in a fire, a second damaged copy was found and reconstructed- it too was lost in a fire. (odd that the film is about her trial and burning at the stake). the director died thinking his film was gone for ever. but in 1981 a copy was found in a closet in a mental institution somewhere in scandinavia... thank God.