Move over, PastorDan, I've got some preaching to do. Well, actually, I'm just kicked back with 90 minutes of Tom Waits (mix I made a few years ago) -- right now "Swordfishtrombone" -- wafting about the room, along with the smell of a pot of strong coffee, and one of those church bulletin sermonettes in front me
"Some say they saw him down in Birmingham, Sleeping in a boxcar going by..."[
Note: periodic, real time, "Tom Waits breaks" will punctuate this Diary -- bg]. So, PastorDan, I really
don't want you to "move over", just let me join you in the pulpit.
And, truth be told, I don't have any preaching to do, but I do feel compelled to pass on the church bulletin words of one Dr. Bill Morgan, the Senior Pastor at Canterbury United Methodist Church in Mountain Brook, Alabama (yes, that Mountain Brook). So, why THIS diary? You'll know if you go below the fold . . .
"Now you're gone. It's hotels and whiskey and sad luck days..."
Thing is, Mtn Brook UMC has got to be one of the most Republican churches in these United States. So, why do I want to lay the words of a preacher in a HEAVILY Right-of-Center church on a mixed bag of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Agnostics, Athiests, Buddhists, Taoists, Wiccans, "Half-Puerto Rican Chinese!", and Apathetics???.
Coffee break.
Back. O.K., so here's the thing: once you read Bill's little, written "sermonette" below, and consider that he's the Senior Pastor of a congregation that probably went 80% Bush in 2004, and consider that he is an extremely popular minister in this church (really), you will marvel at the MYSTERY OF FAITH (in this case, Christian Faith) to make inroads into the hearts of those whose "heartfulness" might be considered somewhat questionable by the likes of regulars to this sight "Will I see you tonight? On a downtown train?".
Now, before I get going on this, I can already hear many of you saying,"Well, if this Minister's so 'effective', then how come his congregation's still so heavily Right Wing?"
To that I answer: "Patience, people. Patience. Rome wasn't built in a day. And, besides, according to the latest polls, Bush's base is starting to crumble around the edges . . ."
I hear he has an ex-wife in some place called 'Mayor's Income,' Tennessee."
Anyway, without further ado, I invite you to read and contemplate, not only these written manifestations some powerful feelings by a devout Christian, but also -- considering the audience, the Mtn Brook UMC congregation -- the audacious Radicalness of a True Jesus Lover. And, even more, consider what 'magic', slow and patient 'magic' is being worked into the hearts of so many devotees of Right Wingism.
"Hang on, St. Christopher, and don't let me go. . ."
From the August 28, 2005 "Canterburian"
Newsletter & Church Bulletin. Dr. Bill Morgan,
Senior Pastor (in it's entirety)(NOTE: Caps are Bill's; all boldface are mine; Tom Waits' is Tom Waits, and written in real time, between the blockquotes):
Just exactly who Jesus is has been the mystery since something happened . . . something that convinced chicken-hearted disciples that Jesus was alive after all.
The gospels are swirls of ways to lasso the myster of who Jesus is: Luke's and Matthew's account of his God-ful birth; John's depiction o fthe primeval meaning-giving logos-word of God taking on flesh-face in Jesus; Mark's baptized-baptizing under cover long awaited Messiah-Son of man-Son of God. After centuries of debates-diputes, the church delared more in expression than explanation of the mystery: "TRULY GOD, TRULY HUMAN." [ Note: He's talking about the Council of Nicaea, 325 A.D., wherein the Egyptian priest Arius was -- in my opinion -- wrongly vilified and labeled a heretic for, effectively, taking the epistles of Paul to heart re: God bestowing divinity on Jesus, rather than Jesus' being born "divine". Politics as much as theology dominated, IMHO. Nothing new under the sun.]
"Running through the graveyard, we laughed my friends and I. We swore we'd be together, until the day we die. Until the day we die."
Despite efforts to string together Bible verses to produce a 'plan' of salvation-rules-steps-laws, we have GOT do do, a life-transforming relation with Jesus is more a gift we GET to have because of his prior acceptance of us enables us to accept His acceptance of us. So, how is this all lived out? Here's a big part for me:
Despite centuries of disputes-divisions over what happens in the sacrement [of Holy Communion], what I know is that at the Lord's Table I feel closer to God-others-myself than in most anything else I do.
People get hot-and-bothered about Jesus and world religions. All I know is that Jesus makes me feel more connection-compassion for all people, even other religions and no religion.
"If you walk with Jesus, he's gonna save your soul. You gotta keep the devil, down in the hole!"
Coffee warm-up.
I am fully aware of the faults of churches in general and in particular All I know is that I feel closer to God and see Jesus in faces when I hang around imperfect churches and imperfect church people and join them in reaching out in service in the world.
"I sleep with my shovel, and my leather gloves. And a little trouble makes it worth the going. Oh the world is round, and I'll go 'round. You must risk something that matters."
We don't know exactly what happens when we die, don't really know if a life of integrity and compassion is finally worth it, don't know exactly how with such evil afoot there can be a loving God. What I know of Jesus doesn't shut down my brain, but sets me free to tangle with all the questions. What I confess is that I love Jesus. God's grace in Jesus gives me power and a pattern for *living with meaning and dying with hope.
"And a dog is tied to a wagon of rain, and the road is as wet as the sea . . ."
Missionary-doctor-minister-Bible scholar Albert Schweitzer was to the early 20th Century similar to what Mother Teresa was for the late 20th Century.
"Everyone's looking for someone to blame. When you share my bed you share my name. Well, go ahead and call the cops. You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops."
In his monumental 'Quest for the Historical Jesus,' he concludes: 'He comes to us as one unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside. He came to those who knew Him not. He speaks the same words, 'Follow Me!' and sets us to the tasks, which He has to fulfill in our time.'
"Some men are searching for the Holy Grail. Well there ain't nothin' sweeter than a ride on the rails."
To those who obey Him, whether wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils-conflicts-sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience, who He is.'
"Does life seem brutish, nasty and short? Come on up to the house. The seas are stormy, and you can't find no port. Come on up to the house.
See, not all Christians are of the ilk as Mr. Robertson. And not all open-minded, loving and liberal- and liberation-thinking ministers preach in "librul" churches. Patience. Patience.
BenGoshi
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