Welcoming Porn Stars and Addicts

Jesus was more concerned about the hypocrisy and “heavy burdens” from the religious leadership of his time than correcting the behaviors of those on the social fringe. In fact, he went out of his way to befriend and identify himself with the furthest out: touching lepers, drinking and socializing with prostitutes and tax collectors. He didn’t set aside any laws, just added qualifiers to the law: those without sin should throw the first stone. He didn’t condone their behavior; it simply wasn’t the focus of his interest. As he welcomed them, they examined their own hearts, and came to their own radical conclusions about their need to change. He loved them and welcomed them, and allowed the rest to take it’s course. It was only the religious self-righteous that he challenged regarding obedience and behavior – mainly because their (our) biggest problem was (is) failure to see their (our) own flaws.

We -- Christian culture -- have trouble understanding this. We like to think of ourselves as being the marginalized, but this is not the point. Jesus was marginalized. He did not set out to re-establish his own rights. I think this is why I react with frustration at the Christian Right’s condemnation and fear related to the perceived culture war. Because to some degree, they are me. Is there a culture war? Sure. But I wonder if our demands for others to conform (and thereby create a Christian state?) often made implicitly upon those outside, fuel misunderstanding and antagonism far more than assuage it. We need to stop spending so much time in vindicating our position, and welcome those on the margins. The way that man did. The one we name ourselves for.

Conspiracy

Thank goodness Dr. Dobson is watching out for the best interest of our children. What next? Perhaps there is a secret Al Qaeda plot lurking in our Sunday-school curriculum!

LiveStrong

If you've lived long, you know someone who battles cancer. Perhaps someone very close to you. Some have lost. Many fight now. I encourage you to give to this fight -- click the link in the title of this post.

Show solidarity with those fighting cancer. If you would like a wristband, let me know your address ... I'll send you as many as you want, in exchange for a commitment to donate any amount to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Many thanks.

The Point

Rachel and I were talking Thursday about the interdependent setup that we are hoping to develop on our team at work. It became suddenly very obvious to both of us that this is the way life is in general: engineered so that we need each other.

Clay recently had a similar comment –- he offered that disagreement brings fruit, and fosters community and interaction. He provided this:

C.S. Lewis loved 'rational opposition' and Barfield supplied plenty of this. Besides sharing the same interests, Lewis wrote in Surprised by Joy, Barfield 'approaching them all at a different angle.' 'When you set out to correct his heresies,' said Lewis, 'you find he forsooth has decided to correct yours! And then you go at it, hammer and tongs, far into the night...out of this perpetual dogfight a community of mind and a deep affection emerge.' Barfield compared arguing with Lewis to 'wielding a peashooter against a howitzer'. It must be understood that 'rational opposition' is not quarreling. 'We were always,' said Barfield, 'arguing for truth not for victory, and arguing for truth, not for comfort.'

Clay is right. The interaction that disagreement requires is usually more important than the solution.

Walter the Farting Dog

Ok, I’m not making this up.

My 4-year-old found this lovely book at the library. Reading it to him last night, it had the gritty feel of a Tarantino film. The first thing you notice is that the art is all Picasso/Dali surreal.

Walter is sold to a clown for ten bucks by a lying father -- due to the low take on their yard sale (old dentures, dig biscuit, dirty sock, broken sunglasses, used underpants, you get the picture)... which itself is partially a result of the stench of pooch flatus. The clown feeds the dog beans, and straps a glass “fart-catcher” to Walter’s arse that blows up balloons, all for a “good cause” … children’s birthday parties.

In reality, the clown is a manipulative bank robber, using the balloons as weapons to stun and “leverage” anyone in his way: “… or I’ll pop every one of them!”

After the heist, Walter is cajoled by the thief to eat up for the next job, but apparently a leak develops in the contraption on the dog, and the clown’s $50 cigar ignites the “gas” with a vengeance. The clown is blown through a TV set, and with smoking tail, Walter heads home – finding his family and leading the police to the hideout. All is well.

The book is dedicated to “everyone who’s ever felt misjudged or misunderstood.”

Absolutely one of the best I’ve ever read.

Relijun

Lately I have been thinking about the purpose of Religion (besides war and bigotry). It seems that we (people "with skin on") need a tangible way to acknowledge God. This is to our own benefit. Corporate worship and practices can facilitate that. Faith content is best taught, understood, protected, and "managed" in general in a community where there is opportunity to flush out and apply the ideas of belief, where accountability is natural, and where people are challenged and encouraged to live consistent with what they believe. This "living" thing only seems relevant in relationships. This is one of the only ways we get a regular opportunity to die to self. Community is just a larger expression of family. We need a safe community to encourage that and live it out practically.


I made a comment a couple nights ago that seemed to make Tom uncomfortable: I believe my particular understanding of God and the world to be true -- at least as much as reasonable (as everyone except the psychotic does) and I am comfortable identifying my religion with God, however, I have been less comfortable lately identifying the Creator of Everything with my religion.

It just seems unreasonable that a supposedly infinite being could be captured and explained, even by a very very long list of whatnot. "God", if such a being exists, could only ever be partially understood. Religious belief can never reveal the whole picture. I suppose that doesn't mean that religious belief can't contain truth; it just won't be able to contain all truth. Which makes me wonder about the difference between partial understanding, and incorrect understanding.

So what of this truth? Is there such a thing as objective reality when speaking of God? I was violently protective of that idea for as long as I can recall, until about 5 months ago. Slowly, I am beginning to wonder if a demand for objective truth is necessary, or even healthy.

Uh ...

Transfomed!

To Jeanne

I do worry too much. Life is short. There is much to appreciate, and many to love. At risk of sounding overly sentimental, I’d like to kiss more young and old folks, and encourage the rest. So much to appreciate! There really is no other way than love. I don’t do this well, but I am working on “figuring it out”. I don’t mean getting fancy new knowledge, as much as letting go of old encumbrance. Mostly, it’s an issue of being honest (thank you, Jeanne), and looking after other people instead of self. Self-thought can poison our ability to give. What else brings meaning, except to offer ourselves to others?

Hurt

As is my habit, I commuted to work by bicycle on Friday. It’s dark both ways, so the bike lights are important. On my way out of the building to come home, I found that I had apparently forgotten to fully re-charge my headlamp.

Should I call my wife? A cab? Maybe look for a lift from a co-worker? I left the building as a typical Independent American Male. No asking for help. Such a thing is shameful to the North American bearers of the XY-chromosome. So, of course, I chose to take the risk. Auh Auh Auh!

I rode off down the hill, after only a few moments I was asking for divine safety. I actually found myself (embarrassingly) singing an 80’s Christian song about angelic protection. At points, I was really quite scared. I could not see where I was going. Oncoming cars could not see me, and would occasionally turn into my path.

Deciding to ride in the dark, despite the risk -- I had gotten myself into my own bad situation -- made me think of the fact that I have done that type of thing many times before, and in far more significant ways.

Again, on a steep uphill (epiphany always come to me on climbs), the idea occurred to me that I had somehow … hurt God’s feelings. Perhaps not by riding in the dark that night, as much as metaphorically doing the same at other times. At first this “hurt feelings” thing seemed like a ridiculous proposition. After all, God does not need my friendship. He exists independent and complete, apart from any other being. Entertaining this thought seemed almost wrong: as if God were a weak, dependent person.

Person.

I realized that up to this point in my life, my “relationship” with God has been less of an actual relationship, and more of a formula, and standard of observance. By “observance”, I don’t necessarily mean formal worship codes, or a list of rules -- I’m talking about my conception of God, and the way I approach him. The idea that he could actually be hurt by my actions (or inaction) was honestly, a new realization. At least, I am now more willing to consider that this is the case.

I think that up to this point, I have not really understood the *personal* love that God has for me (and us). He wants a real relationship with us as any other person might. He seeks us, and is both disappointed and hurt by our rejection of him. This is far different from an angry, vindictive deity who waits to pounce when we step out of line. It’s so funny – I thought that I had dispensed with that caricature of God long ago.

Perhaps this is old news to you. In a way, it is not new to me either. I have believed this on some level all along, but I had not until now really understood it. I am actually ashamed that I have not given God more credit. If I, as a poor parent, could be so broken or moved by the actions and decisions of my own children – I would be willing to jump in front of the proverbial bus for any of them – would God feel less so?

BunnieFlix

I have little stomach for gory films such as The Exorcist, The Shining, or Jaws, but if someone were too ... say ... compress the story to 30 seconds, and use cartoon bunnies ... I could be hip to that.

Compliments of 30-Second Bunnies Theater by Angry Alien Productions.

Mudman

He appeared to be wandering around the side of this old farmhouse without a specific aim. At first, I just thought he was a guy with lots of brown on.

I had the day off work today, and decided to ride about 50K’s through a moderately hilly part of the county so dogs could chase me. What a kick. Anyway, as I was puffing up this “moderate” hill, with all the effort of an Olympic athlete, and the velocity of an arthritic grandmother’s walk -- on the left I see this brown dude sauntering about.

As I get closer, I can see that it is an adult humanoid, completely covered with medium-brown, chunky mud. No red mouth, no eyeholes, just wet dirt. Ok. “… wonder what that’s about …” I muttered to myself between gasps.

I never did stop to ask. I’m sure it was a great story, “Well, y’see we’ve this pregnant sow out by the barn, an’ she just don’t see the sense in raising her porky self to come inside, and we figgered the tractor was too dangerous. Then me and Buford figgered that we could just drag her back inside. She’s a bit bigger than we realized. Yep.” He did seem a bit ghost-like, disappearing and everything once I got close enough.

Anyway, every time I ride by the place I will probably look to see if Mudman cleaned up, or if he still wanders the farmland … looking for his lost pregnant pig.