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my daughter and her friend spent the night last night. good grief. we hadn't slept, and when i looked at the clock, it was seven-thirty this morning. i have heard myself say in recent years that nothing would keep me up all night anymore. i am old and need my sleep. i am GOOD at sleeping. i have been doing it for years. it is possible that the seven dwarfs were actually seven personality types at their zenith. my soul-brother "sleepy" was actually as gifted as any spiritual master. becoming a sleep professional requires rounding up your other spiritual aspects and perfecting them. then, with the psalmist we can sing as if in a lullaby, "in peace i will lie down and sleep in the very presence of my enemies."
it is intriguing to look for today's "Christian concepts" in the words and actions of Jesus. i went to a church that had the spirit of parking. people got these amazing parking spaces every week. "i was on the downtown streets in the busiest part of rush hour. i said, 'Lord, help me with a space,' and one opened right in front of the place i was going to." i used to be aghast. in three seconds i thought, "howdoyouknowitwasn'tforahandicappedpersonormaybesomeonewith tripletswhoreallyneededit ( ... gasp ... hack ... hack ... ) andyoucanwalkanywaysowhatiswiththerequestsforclosespotsJesus walkedmarathonstoshare Hisheartsowewouldhaveanexampleandyouturnitintoprayingforclos eparkingplaces?" Pastor Cathy says, "john, you think a LOT." HA! but i can't find car- or even chariot-parking in Scripture. perhaps He provides little gestures like that to remind us of His love. it just makes me feel like a mouth-breather.
there is a dorothy parker mentality to Christian-speak these days. it is information followed by being mocked. like this:
Christian: " ... so you really, really, really need to believe like i do."
other guy: "i hear you. i respect you. let me think about it."
Christian: "don't think too long or i will be drinking ice-water looking at you in hell."
where is Jesus haughty? where does He relish telling people that since they don't immediately believe, He's going to be dumping gas on them as they burn? people come into the "Christian" chat i used to spend far too much time in. instead of being grateful for finding other believers, however mature they might or might not be, they behave like crack heads blowing their noses on each other's clothes. i had already known from my column that "Christians" can be more hateful than "the texas chain-saw massacre." but i assumed that it was an aspect of the privacy the writers felt. in "Christian" chat, it seems that they devolve. i have seen an entire generation turn over in that chat room, and the number one character trait they seem to carry away is dyspepsia. they are all grouchy. is it written in one of the books ruled out of the Biblical texts that He says, "the fruit of the Spirit is grumpiness"? we are rather far away from Body-wide encouraging of one another in our faith.
the part of churchianity that confuses me most is the Gospel of Self. there are thousands of children dying from starvation. do i ask God for a Rolls? or maybe a nice Buick and money to feed a village for half a year? will our uniquely created theoryology work in Darfur? will we walk in smiling and induce their families to go home with food every night? because that IS supernatural to starving folks. my first church may have prayed up parking spaces, but my daughter at 15 was BUILDING a house for a homeless man. her approach seems more Scriptural. i have difficulty visualizing the plush, self-indulgent lives we seem to expect fitting into any moment of what i read to be His life. i work with men who come into detox with french fries in bundles with rubber bands around them. they use them like crackers or have a snack when the weather takes all their heat away. what part of "tithe to wealth" do i tell them? "if you give me two of your twenty fries, i can guarantee by God's word that you will get sixty, one-hundred-twenty, or two hundred fries back."
one of the evangelical superstars came to the huge auditorium in our town to preach. they had buckets on the stage and the entire time he spoke people came up weeping and throwing money into these buckets. it was absolute mimic perfection of the B-movie societies that throw babies into fires to appease gods that are half eagle, half BLT. close to the man's parting shot and the quote that was picked up by every paper i read was, "i'm loaded." this makes me want to don a poncho and seek out sufis who will let me roam with them. i work with girls who get abortions or give their babies away because they can't afford to feed themselves and no help seems to be on the way. this is something that goes completely by financial health, and the people who cluck and fuss are above "the line." they seriously don't understand that sometimes morals are dictated by survival. remember this little "ignored truth:" you become what you judge. now that you've heard it, you will notice. be careful that your hatred of sin doesn't steal from you your compassion.
i have a fling with this subject from time to time, so i will revisit it soon. i try not to make posts long enough that your buns go to sleep on the throne. it is my lifetime experiment to try to find out what my faith actually entails and report how well that is working out. so i'll see ya around campus.
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Posted by AllThingsBuck on 2008-01-04 23:55:30 | Rating: | Views: 98
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