This Week

"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is 
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 
Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses 
for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing 
treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and 
no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, 
there your heart will be also.
"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 
be like those who are waiting for their master to 
return from the wedding banquet, so that they may 
open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 
Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert 
when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his 
belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come 
and serve them. If he comes during the middle 
of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, 
blessed are those slaves. "But know this: if the owner 
of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, 
he would not have let his house be broken into. 
You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming 
at an unexpected hour." 
----Luke 12:32-40

This only left one parcel. Harry picked it up 
and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it. 
Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering 
to the floor where it lay in folds.  Ron gasped. 
"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice. 
"If that is what I think it is - they're really rare, 
and really valuable."
"What is it?" asked Harry. Harry picked the shining, 
silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange 
to the touch, like water woven into material.
"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron, a look 
of awe on his face.  
 ---- JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

35. Keep your aprons on. Lit. "let your loins be girded" 
i.e. let the long, ankle-length robe be adjusted by a 
waistbelt to ensure readiness for action or departure.
---- Joseph Fitzmeyer, Luke X-XXIV

"Accessories make the outfit." 
----Barbie Millicent Roberts (Barbie Doll)

Translation: Let your loins be girded. A rather literal 
rendering sometimes conveys the required meaning, 
e.g. 'tighten your belt' (Kapauku), 'tighten the belt 
about your loins' (lokele). Elsewhere the term for 
a similar act has the same metaphorical meaning, e.g. 
'have-(it)-tucked-in' (Balinese), 'have (it)-rolled-up' 
(South Toradja, similarly Yao), 'have your clothing 
tucked up' (Shona 1966), i.e. make ready for work 
at hand, by pulling up the long skirt-like garment 
between the legs and tucking it into the belt 
at the back, or by rolling or pulling it up around 
the waist. But in several languages only a non-figurative, 
functional rendering is acceptable, e.g. 'be ready always' 
(Tzeltal), 'be prepared" (Gio), 'prepare yourselves', 
or a combination of a functional rendering of this 
(and the next) phrase with a literal one, e.g. "be ready 
for action, with belts fastened and lamps alight" 
(NEB, cp also TEV, Rieu). 
----A Translator's Handbook on the Gospel of Luke

3. Does anybody have an explanation for costumes? 
They are another convention of the genre which I enjoy, 
yet damned if most of the ones in comics today are functional. 
Would you go to a free-for-all dressed in a bikini? 
 
Re: bikini - if the person in question's skin is tough 
enough to bounce bullets, wearing a lot of clothes 
will only result in damage to those clothes. Bright, 
distinctive costumes also aid in recognition, the same 
way heraldry used to work for knights dressed in 
very similar suits of armour. Superhero combats, esp. 
Champions, go by very fast, and rapid identification 
speeds up reaction time. :-)
 ----www.flick.com/games/RPGs/superheroes.html

  

You have several paper doll choices and accessories 
	on the tables. Dress your paper doll for action, 
	in whatever way that makes sense to you.
What are your favorite action clothes - what do you 
	wear to be ready for anything? Or, if you were on Survivor, 
	what would you wear?
What clothes are required for being dressed for 
	action in your everyday life?
What clothes did Superheroes need to be dressed 
	for action? What if they didn't have their super clothes? 
	Why did they need them?
What sort of clothes do we need to be dressed for God's
	 action? What do you need to do to "gird up your loins?" 
	What clothes do you have that are slowing you 
	down for God's action?
Does faith provide us with superpowers? 
	Or at least cool accessories?