#Faith Connexion

[brokenconcrete]

[polishmodels]

Maja Zimnoch - Faith Connexion, Spring 2024 Ready-to-Wear, Paris Fashion Week

source: vanityteen.com

[redcarpet-streetstyle]

[stylestream]

Taylor Swift | Faith Connexion dress • Jimmy Choo boots • Stella McCartney bag • Elie Saab sunglasses | Street Style: New York | 2018

[anotherfuckingfashionblog]

Faith Connexion resort 2018

[glitter-stained]

I keep seeing posts about how Jason should have chara development that makes sense regarding his morals and stop killing because of that rather than because Bruce told him to stop and like - it's not like I disagree. Of course, that would be great. Of course I want him to be written his age by writers that like him and have development that makes sense and work with Bruce and Dick and evolve on his own as a person.

But the thing is.

A few weeks ago I saw a critique of His Dark Materials that was so absurdly daft it made me want to peel my skin off. For context, His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman is a children/young adult book set in fantasy worlds that doubles as a retelling of Paradise Lost in which Lucifer wins, and criticism of christianism is preponderant in it. (This will spoil a good part of book 1 of HDM btw). I'm far from a HDM fan, I saw a few episodes of the adaptation and read it once when I was ten and thought the characters and world was fun but the rhythm in the 2nd and 3rd books was off and I didn't like the ending, so like it was fun but I definitely not a re-read for me. But the point is, this critique clearly had a degree in not getting the fucking point, because his arguments against the books clearly stemmed from an inability to shift his viewpoint out of the christian framework (I promise this is still a Jason post). One of his most ludicrous argument was the lack of character depth in HDM. This is particularly silly because one of the main characters, Mrs Coulters, is one of the most interesting complex characters I've ever seen in fiction. Now Mrs Coulters is interesting because she is a bad guy. Like, tortures and kills children level of bad guy. She doesn't magically grow to sacrifice herself in the name of martyrdom to repent for her sins or something silly like that; but still, she sometimes does very good, helpful things for the characters, because the tension between her character is between her ambition (and her faith though that's more questionable) and her motherhood, as she truly loves and cares for her daughter, one of the protagonists, and wants a better, safer world for her. Now the critique claimed that there was no character depth because there was no concept of sin and no redemption arcs in the books- but those are utterly Christian concepts, so of course they wouldn't be endorsed by a book that challenges their validity. Just because Mrs Coulters doesn't have a redemption arc doesn't mean she isn't deep; and the fact that she does good things not out of morality but out of love is what makes her a fascinating character.

So, thinking about that asinine critique, I was suddenly struck with the realization that Jason is somehow similar to Mrs Coulters in that he is a very loving person who tends to put his personal connexions above everything else (of course, he doesn't experiment on and torture children, that's not what I'm saying). My point is, I don't think why we shouldn't have a Jason who evolves not moved by his morals (though he has them and they matter) but by his love. The point of Death in the Family is Jason wanted to be loved and have a family and trying to shield Sheila's body with his and telling her he loved her. The point of UTRH is Jason doing horrible things in the most theatrical, strategically planned mental breakdown as begging for proof of love because he can't reconcile being loved in a different way that he loves and because he can't understand someone putting their moral code over love. And as much as RHATO #25 fills me up with dread, I have to say I love Jason's behaviour in that final stint. "I am my father's son" holy shit what a line. Jason is Willis' son and because of his filial love, his loyalty demands he avenges him. Jason is Bruce's son and because of his filial love, his loyalty demands that he does not kill. Jason almost murders Willis' murderer with a blank bullet and then when Bruce beats hims halfway to death he doesn't defend himself, doesn't fight back (like, one punch but come on, we've seen him fight, he just gives up). That right there? Hate to say it with how questionable RHATO's Jason is in general, but that's peak characterization. The conflict is entirely about Jason's conception of love, family and worldview, and it's deep and interesting and has nothing to do with morality. I want Jason storylines that explore that. I want Jason to work with the batfam in stories that make sense, I want the writers to acknowledge him as a victim and trauma survivor and allow him to grow from there instead of demonizing his mental illness, I want him to stop killing out of love and I want him to allow himself to love in healthier ways and for the width of his love to spread exponentially and for that to affect his behaviour and worldview.

And that's not just because I like Mrs Coulters and dislike the idea of holier than though moral characters! The christic symbolism Jason is crystal clear (especially in Lost Days), but it's not just about Jason: Talia is associated with Mary (which makes sleeping with him that much more obviously incestuous and horrible and ooc), Joker is the Devil and Bruce, of course, is God (which begs such interesting questions about the Holy Spirit - Robin maybe? To explore at a later date). Now, everybody's experience with Christianity differs wildly, but the way I learnt it growing up in catholic culture was basically God being an Authority of Judgement and Law, strict and all about morality; while Jesus is about love, unconditional love, even and especially the sinners and the damned (and as for the devil Lucifer is a fallen angel who fell after losing to God, and Satan is the demonic incarnation of temptation ain't that interesting). So I would argue that by having Jason kill or not kill out of love for his family, Jason is already his own character with autonomous thought process, independent morals and original interesting values that are a breath of fresh air in the world of superhero which is all about moral codes. Additionally, I think it's interesting and full of potential (and hope) that that very thing is why Jason and Bruce are held in opposition so often when in christianism they are two sides of the same coin.

TLDR: Jason going through character development that doesn't involve an evolution of his moral code is a great idea and if executed properly should give us fascinating stories with one of the most interesting characters in the DC universe, I used to think he should get a sort of "redemption arc" after UTRH where he questions his moral code but now I feel like I'm stuck in the same Christian/superhero framework as the pedantic guy who didn't understand His Dark Materials and I refuse to agree with them about anything so now I'm a hardcore "love over morals" Jason girlie. Obviously I still think moral code development would be a good and interesting storyline and better than anything DC is giving us rn, but I think we could do even better without it.

(also Star Sapphire Jason ftw)

[sisterdivinium]

It’s tempting to think of Jillian as an atheist given her connexion to science, her confrontation with the church in s1 and simply as a counterpoint to all the religious characters around her. I’ve used the word for her myself in fic before, but I did it fully knowing that Jillian is perhaps the character who most wants to believe.

There’s an implication that she speaks from experience when she tells Kristian one doesn’t ever really leave the church…

… And her firm principle of proving faith and science can coexist shows she has no intention of dismantling faith in itself or the value people find in spirituality.

When Luther supposedly nailed his objections to that fateful church door, he didn't intend to shake the core of what faith actually is—quite the contrary, one could argue.

Neither is Jillian trying to destabilise faith in itself... The difference is that she just decided to build her own door instead.

The church might stand in her way, yes, but one could could make a case about how it is more due to their keeping of divinium than to the criticism she directs at Vincent on the subject of Hell and the subjugation of women. She might well believe it—or any part of her performance during most of season one, really—but her conflict with the institution lies less in the way of ideology than in matters of practical consequences.

Were it not so, wouldn’t she have been a little more resistant to her son’s visions of an angel? Why believe in a child’s prophetic drawings otherwise? Even if she by any chance didn’t consider the giver of those visions an angel, the very fact of taking a vision seriously would suggest some degree of fidelity to the very idea of there being something more, something else than the life we know in this plane of existence.

If she doesn’t admit the existence of a god outright, she at least lends credence to the idea that there is something. We might not be able to take her fully at her word in the scenes where she’s playing her part as a seeker of knowledge maligned by the Vatican, but there is some amount of truth to what she says. She might not have truly found Heaven, she might not be able to prove her portal actually leads there...

… But she most certainly wants to be right. For Michael’s sake, there must be something else, even if not precisely what has been foreseen by scripture.

And, even so, she finds worth in that very scripture she doubts.

Perhaps she’s being honest when she tells Vincent she likes the stories—there’s a lot of knowledge to be found in even the simplest of them to she who knows how to seek it.

Perhaps there’s an underlying attachment of hers to the Bible, a past she cannot really abandon. It’s not all that common for people with absolutely no ties to Catholicism to have something like the image of a saint as decoration hanging in the background.

Sure, there are other religious elements scattered in her workplace including a Buddha, but it’s a man who used to be an archivist at the Vatican she hires, not a defected monk or rabbi.

Yes, she will work with anyone who is equally willing to work with her. It’s not from the goodness of her heart as there is a component of selfishness in such cooperation—one to which she admits herself—but her attitude is also a testament to the openness she has concerning the results she might obtain. Maybe the OCS is right, maybe there’s a God and saints and Heaven and Hell…

It doesn’t really matter as long as there is something, something to work towards, something to seek.

Or it didn’t matter—while Michael was alive.

She has had her proof of there being more... And she has paid a high price for learning of it.

It’s a pity we don’t know what she would have done with this information. How do we react when what we believe is confirmed to be true but not in the way we expected or desired?

Whatever shock the nuns have experienced to their faith in this business with Adriel, the perversion of the power of prayer and all else they've survived during season two, Jillian is likely to have felt the very same blow right alongside them.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hey! I have a question that can only be answered by someone who knows all the books or the majority of them.

Do you think Armand really loved Lestat or it was more about what Lestat and Marius had? To me it's just like with Louis he wanted him because of Lestat and what they had.I see Armand as this little kid rejected by his parent and does anything to feel a bit of connexion ? I don't know if what i'm saying makes sense? Will the show adapt like in the books or change their dynamic?

I do think Armand loves Lestat.

Note the tense switch, bc it‘s difficult. :)

At first what Armand sees in Lestat is an echo of Marius, then Lestat’s actions and rejection cement that confused attraction in aggravated need. Lestat meeting Marius is after that after all. Armand wants Lestat then, for both that echo and the promise of the future.

Later, after Louis, it’s very difficult. Armand has his own true love experience with Daniel and it changes him, and I think that is why he and Lestat arrive on a more common ground after Akasha, a more forgiving ground. They know what it is like to fall fatally in love. And Armand can differentiate between real love and the obsessive need he feels for Lestat (and also what he feels for Marius).

Still, in the last books, there is a scene where Armand lashes out, using that love he feels against Lestat, because of Louis. It is a deliberately weaponizing scene, which is incredibly powerful, and I do hope we will get to see it in the show.

“Fool,” he said again. His voice was roughened now by emotion he couldn’t suppress. “I have always loved you,” he said. “I have loved you more than any being in all the world whom I’ve ever loved. I have loved you more than Louis. I have loved you more even than Marius. And you have never given me your love. I would be your most faithful counselor, if you allowed it. But you don’t. Your eyes pass over me as if I don’t exist. And so they always have.”

Armand loves Lestat in the end (and Lestat does feel love for him, too). But it is a difficult love, built on a lot of pain and history.

[orthopunkfox]

I'm a seminarian!!!

Hey friends, I've kept a pretty tight lid on this until all the ducks were in a row, but I have some exciting news. I have been accepted as a postulant for Holy Orders in The Convergent Catholic Connexion of Saint Maria Skobtsova, an inclusive and affirming faith community practicing in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.

My sincerest thanks go to my spiritual director, my sponsors, my bishop, and Metropolitan for supporting me and affirming my call to ministry. Those of you who know me well know this has been a long and complex journey, but such is the will of God. That said, God willing, I will be a priest in Christ's Holy Apostolic Church. For friends who pray, I covet your prayers. For those who do not, I cherish your good thoughts and well-wishes. I am beyond excited to step into this new journey and I cannot wait to continue ministering to my queer siblings of faith.

εἰρήνη ὑμῖν, peace be with you!

[transparentgentlemenmarker]

Plus le temps passe et plus j’ai le sentiment d’être vraiment né à la mauvaise époque... Je rêve de simplicité, de relations authentiques, de cette innocence qu’on a laissée derrière nous. Je n’aspire pas à la perfection, ou à l'accumulation de matériel, seulement à des échanges sincères, spontanés et vrais. Des connexions profondes entre humains. Un monde où la bienveillance et l'empathie seraient des valeurs centrales. Mais aujourd’hui, tout semble calculé, chacun utilise et manipule l'autre pour ses intérêts. Les gens ne dialoguent plus pour essayer de se comprendre, ils veulent juste imposer leurs idéologies. Toutes les valeurs actuelles misent en avant ne sont pas les miennes. Le bon sens aussi à quitter les esprits... Je ne me reconnaîs plus en la majorité de mes semblables. Se sentir tellement en décalage est abusé au point de me demander si ce n’est pas moi qui suis à côté de la plaque. Bref, je sais aussi que je ne suis pas tout seul à ressentir tout ça et c'est ce qui me fait tenir dans tout ce bordel ambiant. Mais au fond j'ai encore foi en l'humanité c'est le plus important sûrement pas cette année sinon je le saurais. Alors si vous lisez ce message, sachez qu'il y a en d'autres des comme vous qui aime les autres la vie les gens alors donnons rendez-vous pour l'année prochaine. Car nous sommes de belles personnes

The more time passes, the more I feel like I was really born in the wrong era... I dream of simplicity, authentic relationships, of this innocence that we left behind. I do not aspire to perfection, or to the accumulation of material, only to sincere, spontaneous and true exchanges. Deep connections between humans. A world where kindness and empathy would be central values. But today, everything seems calculated, everyone uses and manipulates the other for their interests. People no longer dialogue to try to understand each other, they just want to impose their ideologies. All the current values ​​put forward are not mine. Common sense also leaves the minds... I no longer recognize myself in the majority of my peers. Feeling so out of step is abused to the point of wondering if it is not me who is off the mark. In short, I also know that I am not alone in feeling all this and that is what keeps me going in all this ambient mess. But deep down I still have faith in humanity, that is the most important thing, surely not this year otherwise I would know. So if you are reading this message, know that there are others like you who love others, life, people, so let's see you next year. Because we are beautiful people happy New Year 2025

Più passa il tempo e più mi sento davvero nata nell'epoca sbagliata... sogno la semplicità, le relazioni autentiche, questa innocenza che ci siamo lasciati alle spalle. Non aspiro alla perfezione, né all'accumulo di materiale, ma solo agli scambi sinceri, spontanei e veri. Connessioni profonde tra gli esseri umani. Un mondo in cui la gentilezza e l’empatia sono valori centrali. Ma oggi tutto sembra calcolato, ognuno usa e manipola l’altro per i propri interessi. Le persone non dialogano più per cercare di capirsi, vogliono solo imporre le proprie ideologie. Tutti i valori attuali proposti non sono miei. Anche il buon senso abbandona la mente delle persone... Non mi riconosco più nella maggior parte dei miei coetanei. Si abusa del sentirsi così fuori passo al punto da chiedersi se sono io a non cogliere il punto. Insomma, so anche che non sono il solo a provare tutto questo ed è questo che mi fa andare avanti in tutto questo caos circostante. Ma in fondo ho ancora fiducia nell'umanità, questa è la cosa più importante, sicuramente non quest'anno altrimenti lo saprei. Quindi se leggi questo messaggio sappi che ci sono altri come te che amano la vita degli altri, quindi ci vediamo l'anno prossimo. Perché siamo belle persone

[myworldofelegance]

Faith Connexion Spring 2024 RTW

Paris Fashion Week

source: TheImpression .com

Photo Imaxtree

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

hmm my friend who is obsessed w pilgrims progress also has a car named faithful. i have no idea what the connexion could possibly be

[alternativerunway]

Faith Connexion Spring 2020

[anotherfuckingfashionblog]

Faith Connexion resort 2018

[sohannabarberaesque]

Postcards from Snagglepuss

Minnesota State Fair, ahoy-hoy!

CAMPING AREA, MINNESOTA STATE FAIRGROUNDS: With the onset of the 2023 Minnesota State Fair inherent, and the reports to be had therefrom, therewith even, throughout, yours truly, as well as Huckleberry Hound, somewhat faithful companion and compadre, was able to have their motorhome bivouac squared away ... the electrical, water and sewer connexions installed ... and some groceries squared away.

"Still, Snag," Huckleberry Hound added, "with plenty of fair food out there, and in such abundance, why exactly would we have need for groceries for our motorhome presence?"

"You never can tell what could ensue," replied I. "And not just groceries; I also took the liberty of picking up cleaning supplies."

"Not a bad idea there, Snagglepuss."

Even when you consider it's mostly the likes of "carnie" types, as in such working the rides as make up The Mighty Midway and Kidway areas, as well as commercial exhibitors and the odd visitor or two, as take space here at the Minnesota State Fair's camping area. (In the case of livestock exhibitors, camping space is provided for near the Warner Coliseum. The 4-H crowd has the bunks in the 4-H Building, divided over the course of the fair among exhibitors from the 87 counties making up Minnesota--more accurately, the 89 county and regional fairs; Otter Tail and St. Louis counties, considering their size, have two county fairs each for separate parts of their respectives.)

"Let's just hope that we don't get the egg-throw treatment from other campers," saith I as we walked around the camping area to get acquainted with particularly the showers and laundry facilities ... and yet for some reason or another, many of the other motorhome types as got squared away, or were in process thereof, were stunned to see us, as if we were forgotten icons of childhood wanting to be photographed alongside them.

And boy, did we not disappoint, even if such was in exchange for helping get someone's camper set up and stocked ... and yet several among the campers, many also engaged in commercial activity over the Fair, couldn't believe we could still be around even if we may not have been on the box for some while, by their own admission even!

"Yet," Huck wondered on making the rounds, "I seem to get the idea that our most unlikely presence, even with a motorhome not otherwise identified as having a connexion with our mission, would trigger a heart attack just by our presence per se."

"Even if it were beside a corndog stand?"

"Yup."

"Or one of those Foot-Long Hot Dog such?"

"Likewise."

"Let alone fainting spells by the sheer unexpectedness in the same circumstaces."

"At any rate," Huck remarked, "at least once during the Fair, maybe some breakfast at the Salem Evangelical Lutheran Dining Hall, reinforced with their Swedish Egg Coffee, ought be part of our mantra."

"Our presence, even," added I. "And what exactly explains the appeal of such a coffee, to begin with?"

Huck, resignedly, remarked, "Beats me."

*************

@warnerbrosentertainment @stuffaboutminneapolis @iheartgod175 @theweekenddigest @indigo-corvus @archive-archives @themineralyoucrave @thylordshipofbutts @princessgalaxy505 @thebigdingle @screamingtoosoftly @warnerbros-blog1 @haiyis-dark-void @jellystone-enjoyer @restroom @stuffaboutminnesota @warnerbrosent-blog

[ernestdescalsartwok]

ESGLESIA-ROMANICA-POBLE-MURA-SANT MARTÍ-ART-PINTURA-AQUAREL·LES-INTERIOR-PENOMBRA-ARCADES-CREU-ALTAR-PINTOR-ERNEST DESCALS por Ernest Descals Por Flickr: ESGLESIA-ROMANICA-POBLE-MURA-SANT MARTÍ-ART-PINTURA-AQUAREL·LES-INTERIOR-PENOMBRA-ARCADES-CREU-ALTAR-PINTOR-ERNEST DESCALS- L'interior de l'església romànica de Sant Martí en el poble de MURA, antigues esglésies de la comarca del Bages que conserven l'atmosfera de l'art romànic i la seva profunda arquitectura, en la penombra, sense llums encesos he pintat aquesta escena amb l'altar i la creu tot envoltat de les sòlides arcades de pedra, un ambient molt místic que aprofundeix en la història d'aquestes comarques de la Catalunya Central. Pintura de l'artista pintor Ernest Descals amb aquarel·les sensorials que volen submergir-se en els misteris de la llum per copsar l'atmosfera espiritual que juga amb els nostres sentits més interiors, connexions amb la màgia que ve de la fe dels éssers humans i la seva voluntat de parlar amb els poders còsmics superiors. The interior of the Romanesque church of Sant Martí in the town of MURA, old churches in the Bages region that preserve the atmosphere of Romanesque art and its profound architecture, in the twilight, without lights on I painted this scene with the altar and the cross all surrounded by the solid stone arcades, a very mystical atmosphere that delves into the history of these regions of Central Catalonia. Painting by the artist painter Ernest Descals with sensory watercolors that want to immerse themselves in the mysteries of light to capture the spiritual atmosphere that plays with our innermost senses, connections with the magic that comes from the faith of human beings and their desire to speak with the higher cosmic powers.