Mmmm...

Don't you just love summer tomatoes?

I like leaving them out on the counter in a pretty bowl... preferably, made by my sister!

Even though they are pricier than grocery store 'maters, I go a little crazy with the heirlooms at the farmer's market this time of year. They are 120% tastier, meatier and fresher than grocery store tomatoes, so I don't feel too bad about the expense. I like to get at least one of every color, and a nice mix of sizes - from bigger-than-my-head (almost) to the teensy tiny ones - and before I know it, I've got about seven pounds of tomatoes.

As much as I love them, it can be a challenge to finish them off before they go bad. You can't refrigerate them or they'll turn into mushy, flavorless things, and you know rotten tomatoes do no one any good!

So what to do? Well, I've found a few simple, lovely things to do with Summer's "love apples". Ridiculously simple, so here you go:

Broil 'em:

Cut in half or slice thickly - should be no more than 2" tall -as many tomatoes as you think you might eat. Place on an broil-proof pan, sprinkle with herbs (unless I have some nice fresh stuff, I use the generic "italian seasoning" because I'm just not very picky.) Sprinkle with parmesean cheese. Broil until cheese is melty and tomatoes have wilted.

Marinate 'em:

A few hours before meal time, cut tomatoes into bite-sized chunks and place in a non-reactive bowl. Add to this: one clove finely chopped fresh garlic, torn or minced fresh basil, oregano, ground pepper, red pepper flakes. Toss gently. Pour some good olive oil over all, and toss gently again. Cover. Leave this on the counter for at least 2 hours. The tomatoes will release their juices and make a lovely accompaniment to pasta or as a bruschetta topping - no cooking!

but above all, enjoy 'em!

&**%$##!!!!! (part 3)

"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.
"What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person..."
Matthew 15: 11, 18-20

I've heard the above passages cited as an argument against profanity. But I have to wonder and ask: does a cuss word really defile? Is swearing the fruit of "evil intentions, murder, adultery" etc.? I'm thinking that perhaps Jesus was not referring to those "seven dirty words" that George Carlin was so fond of. (And no, I'm not going to link to those. You can find them easily enough if you are so inclined!)

I think Jesus meant that evil ideas and actions (kind of like the legal definition of free speech) - whether spoken, written or acted upon - are what defile us. It is the recurrent theme of the Gospels: what is in our heart matters to God. Our appearance, wealth and language do not.

I know a young woman - a friend of my kids - who is a devout Christian and an avid Giants fan. She was enamored of Brian Wilson (and this was before the beard), in part because he is not shy about proclaiming his Christian faith. (There is a lovely article about that here.) But one day she saw a game where he gave up a crucial hit, and let an unmistakeable F-bomb fly with full force.

kind of like that.

(photo from google images)

She said that it changed her opinion of him. I was surprised at this, and sarcastically wise-cracked, "yeah, because of course we know that professional ball players never swear..." It gave her pause, and I think she eventually changed her tune. (Besides, Brian's not only an amazing athlete and bone fide goofball, he is a genuinely Good Guy.)

Maybe sometimes profanity is the only way we can express our passion in the heat of the moment. Not all of us can be creative in these moments.

I'm coming to understand that the use or non-use of those few words have little to do with our personal faith walks. After all, what is more harmful: to withhold care for the poor, or an expletive? To wage violence, or to let fly with an angry cuss word? I really think that God cares much less about the words we use than what abides in our hearts.

&**%$##!!!!! (part 2)

I remember clearly when an incident at church made me think about my usage and tolerance of profanity. We were between pastors, and our young "pulpit supply" guest minister used the word "suck" repeatedly throughout his sermon. As in, "that really sucks". I was flabbergasted the first time, and annoyed at every repetition. Now, I admit that "suck" is one of my least favorite words as it is currently used in our language. But even with that factored out, it was inappropriate. The casual use of "suck" - "pissed off" is another example - in our vernacular has crept in to the point where it is fairly mainstream. Maybe the young pastor thought he was being edgy or cool, and it might be so in another setting. But he bombed in the pulpit. There is a time and place for everything, and language usage is no exception.

I was watching an episode of Martha Stewart the other day, and she had Ted Danson on the show. He accidentally let out a minor cuss word while they were cooking - on live tv - and immediately realized what he'd done. It's amusing... watch it here. It was their conversation that follows that I found interesting:

Ted: Do you ever swear when you're cooking?

Martha: [sarcastic] Oh, never. I never swear.

I really never thought of Martha as particularly profane, but as they discussed later (not in the above clip), everybody swears.

Well, nearly everybody.

Properly used, a cuss word can be very effective. Especially if one is not prone to using that part of the vocabulary, you're pretty much guaranteed to elicit a head turn when you do slip one in.

Even more impressive in my book, though, is the creative use of non-profane expletives. I know a woman who is a master of this. Her "aw, shucks" might be the most sincere expression of regret I've ever heard. (She also regularly uses "golly", and the more emphatic "golly gee".) "Crikey" is good. So are "fie!" and "nertz!". A former boss used "Jeezel Petes" - that was fun. Anybody remember Mork's "shazbot!"? Yeah, I enjoy those. I'm nearly as impressed when corporate advertising gets in the act:

*** to be concluded ***

&**%$##!!!!!

Cussing.

We all have different ways of using the language, don't we? Profanity is pervasive in our society, and the tolerance level for the words has risen to the point that it just doesn't matter to some people. A righteous and upstanding citizen can let a blue streak go - and yet, no harm is done. No lightening strikes.

Things certainly have changed. From HMS Pinafore's "damme" uttered by Captain Corcoran in 1879, to Clark Gable's "frankly, my dear..." in 1939, to current film and television, society's tolerance and understanding of swearing has changed dramatically. I might be a little behind the times. An example: the now-defunct "Six Feet Under". It was a fun, quirky show about a family of funeral directors. I liked it, but I have to admit that when I watched it I was pretty appalled by the language. I actually counted during one episode, and if I recall correctly there were 23 F-bombs in those 55 minutes. I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but I think that is excessive. I'm not a fan of the casual use of expletives. In many cases - as my ex-husband used to say - swearing only serves as proof of a limited vocabulary.

I remember learning all of the words and what they meant (more or less) when I was a young lass in middle school. And I used them, boy oh boy. In fact, I was able to achieve grammatically correct, multiple four-letter word sentences on a fairly regular basis. Never in front of my parents, of course.

she doesn't LOOK like a potty mouth, does she?

That is, until that one day when Dad heard me drop an F-bomb while I was playing outside with the neighborhood kids. You might wonder what his reaction was - but I can't tell you, because when he bellowed my name, I flew inside the house and disappeared into my bedroom as fast as I could! I don't think I came out for a week. I suppose Dad thought that my obvious shame and self-imposed grounding was punishment enough! By the time I reached high school (at the ripe old age of 14,) I realized that what I had was a bad habit. I swore reflexively, without thought or moderation. And so I decided to quit. To this day, I've learned that because I cannot seem to exercise moderation in this area, it's either complete abstinence or fairly "loose lips". I've chosen abstinence, and I don't swear freely any longer - well... hardly ever.

Like many instances of personal freedom, I don't really mind if you swear. I mean, sure - gratuitous, casual cussing won't necessarily endear you to me. And if I hang out with you on a regular basis, I might inadvertently pick some of that up from you. That would bug me; it would disturb my soul, and I'd have to re-moderate myself. (But that's my problem, not yours!)

My current stance: these are real words, not evil or even necessarily harmful. As long as they are not turned into weapons, what do I care?

****to be continued****