For the life of me I don’t know why it took me so long to see the law, legalism, and elitism that way too much of the church followed. Yes, I saw some, but I have to admit there was much in it that I must confess that I liked. I wanted to go into the military at an early age because all one had to do to be good was “follow the rules“, and be GOOD at it. Then there’s this fishy problem too. If you could ask a fish to describe water (and I don’t think you can), he or she couldn’t. Water is all the fish has known. Like, what water? Donde? Having not flown in the air or walked on the land, what’s to compare? So it is with living in the lake of legalism. It’s what it is. You dig? Of course not (you can’t dig water).
About twenty years ago, I started “seeing” things that I had never seen before though. Beyond the legalism and fundamentalism, there was this torrent of intolerance. Once I got out of my Midwestern, all white, nearly all Baptist, male dominated Christian pond, wow!
Living in Houston, Texas (30 years ago) I found a population nearly equally divided of Hispanics, African Americans, and us white folk (not the “folks” that Bill O’Reilly looks after). And then came the Asians of many nations, Muslims, Hindus, and categories of people I couldn’t even pronounce. Did I mention there were a lot of gays and lesbians?
How could I fit them into my theological training and background?
I couldn’t, unless I changed.
But every time I erased a line that divided me from “any of them”, the church said, no, no! Fifteen years ago I invited several guys suffering with aides to join in, but I found it against “church theology” to let them in. But where would they go? Who would love them, and why focus on just their “sins”, while turning a blind eye and deaf ear to those that were in adulterous relationships, and other so-called sins, ad infinitum?
And then when you think you’ve got a handle on it, along comes the kids with purple hair singing “Purple Rain” while their numerous piercings seemingly “harmonized” to the rhythm. Oh yeah, and what about those TG, TS people?
God help me. My theological circle is getting smaller and smaller.
It almost seems that much of the church is going back in time to the days of tribalism, where, like dogs, you marked off your territory and if anyone wandered in to that geographic setting, they did so at their peril. For the fundamentalists particularly, there are lines drawn, boundaries established, rules every which way you turn.
Yesterday I heard a person on a talk radio lamenting that there were no moral, conservative candidates running on the Republican party for 2008. The talk show host said, what about Mitt Romeny? Agreeing that he was moral, once and for all married, and no known skeletons in his closet, he also said I can’t for for him because he belongs to a cult- the Mormans!
I agree, it was a stretch to elect a Catholic as president nearly 50 years ago (JFK); and maybe we’re not ready for a Morman president, but can’t we be more loving, kind, civil, maybe act like Jesus?
Maybe? Ahh come on, give it a try!
I bet if we were more inclusive (not condoning unrighteous acts- or judging), the world would be a better place to live. Jesus died for THE WORLD! And every person, group, and cult that we come up with to hate, is still IN that world that Jesus died for.
If we must obsess, let’s do so over loving people, not judging and setting up boundaries to see who is IN and who is OUT!
Amen. This is one of my greatest difficulties, accepting others for whom they are and not projecting them to whom I desire them to be. Jesus Christ created everyone different, I agree that we are called to conform to his truths because God loves us and all people.
I pray that we are ALL reassessing our non Christ-like behaviors.
As Rohr challenged us, we have to allow God to be free to give Himself away to all of us, and each other (in spite of ourselves).
Definitely in spite of ourselves.
Last year at the National Inclusion Conference in Arkansas, I did a dramatization of the Apostle Paul. It’s about 55 verses in Paul’s epistles that when put together really nails down “ultimate reconciliation” A minister of UR for many years took major offense when I took my liberty regarding “boundaries”. One of the verses states, “There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, male nor female, barbarian nor scythian, bond nor free; no Christ is All and Christ is in All.”
Well I took my liberty and put a 2006 slant on that verse. “There is neither protestant nor catholic, Christian nor Muslim, male nor female, white nor black, rich nor poor, heterosexual nor HOMOSEXUAL; no Christ is All and Christ is in All………HOUSTON, WE HAD A PROBLEM.