A few thoughts on yesterday’s sermon:
Prefacing the sermon was an appeal from the district leadership to unite in prayer recognizing the general state of division within the church. The appeal condensed down to an assertion that we need to focus more on what we have in common and not dwell on our differences. I see this as an appeal to the noisy few, the clear minority, to relent in their objections, shut up, and come back into the fold. Before getting too far ahead of myself, let’s move to the sermon which was about the importance of foundations to hold things up.
We, who do not listen, take to heart, and do the words that Jesus taught are as those who built their houses upon the sand. The tides rise, the winds blow, the torrent falls, and so the structure falls. Does this merely apply to the individual, or to the institution which instructs the individual? Our differences are severe; and yes, you are correct in saying the church, as a whole, is in deeply divided trouble. I see today’s situation as similar to that which Jesus observed 2000 years ago. The guidance people received concerning what ‘right’ is, and what God wants from us, was wanting; it still is. Where do we find reconciliation between the sorrow of Christ and those He saw as sheep without a shepherd? Did the leadership of that time assume responsibility for its failure? Will it now? As is, the failure of the edifice, is the sheep’s fault—according to many shepherds (and this sermon.)
How does leadership fail people? Lack of vision? Simple error and/or misunderstanding? Circling the wagons to protect itself? Setting themselves up as being the most important? What is the teaching of Christ? How shall we sum those teachings? There are some stark differences in how many of us interpret what Jesus taught. Shall say that the meat is the maintenance of our laws? (As that Trumpian nutbag from Georgia clearly said.) To the maintenance of borders and the prosecution of those who seek shelter from oppression? (Which is a central belief of Trumpism.) Our differences pastor have moved far beyond matters of left and right. In my mind, and as I’ve argued time and again, the diagram of what comprises the teachings of Christ and the teachings of Church have diverged irrevocably; those who stand in your positions of authority have abused that authority too long. I don’t believe you anymore—along with millions of others. The secular folks understand the teaching of Christ better than Christians seem to. People hate it when I say this; I understand the hostility.
The house crumbles as the leaders continue to call us to obedience. And what is the point? Shall we check our boxes? Go to church—check. Pray—check. Tithe—check. Fill sandwich bags for the homeless—check. It’s not that charity is bad, it’s that it is cover—a veneer over the fact that FoxNews et. al. is discipling the flock into believing what is antithetical to a life of caring for those who are not us. Kierkegaard lived, and said, this far better than I ever could. We live and feast off the blood of those lesser than us. Our media, our leadership, our massive edifices of disinformation, our echo chambers, have taught us to accept a system of lies to save America for God. The unification of church and state has finally come after decades of hard work and ‘sacrifice.’ A few of us are appalled at the thought of the church selling itself to power. And yet, from the pulpit, we are piously called to called to submit in obedience. Believing what I do, in how I frame the teachings of Christ, would it not be the rankest betrayal, of not only Jesus but also of my integrity, to submit to this corruption?
This is where I get angry…
Was there anything concrete in your sermon? It was fill-in-your-own-blanks according to the dominant Christian culture bullshit. Nothing revolutionary or challenging there. Are you aware of the depth of the separation between those who love the teachings of Christ and say, ‘yes’ but to the church say, ‘go fuck yourself’? (And yes, it is a moral assessment.) How did the teachings of Christ come to instruct us to grab at worldly political power? Millions of us are saying ‘no.’ We are saying ‘no’ to you and to all of the Christian nationalists and sympathizers who have even hijacked the flag for themselves. It’s your flag now, that’s why we rebels don’t want to look at it anywhere.
The Christian answer is to keep people ignorant and distracted lest we all come to hate America? Ever think that all the associations of hatred and bigotry, the wild, irrational love of a despicable man, the violence, the censorship of thought, the gaslighting, the patriarchy (purity culture and the mountain of James Dobson bullshit which has saddled millions of us with endless contradiction, guilt, shame, and relational dysfunction so we all can have the appearance of holiness to make the leadership look good,) authoritarianism, and the good ‘ole white boy terrorism to keep the non-white folk in their place might have something to do with why some people hate (and fear) America and its fucking flag? Of course, there are good things about the United States, many have suffered and died for noble causes, but we are in serious trouble because of all the lying and manipulation. Remember what was said in 1984 about history? It went something like this, ‘he who controls the past controls the future; he who controls the present controls the past.’ This is why people like me are shamed, denigrated, undermined, and ignored by those who think they can keep it all in hand by (today’s equivalent of) burning books. The Christian witness is very full of itself and projects an image of the fear of people finding out what the truth really is. What are you so afraid of that you all must be, and embrace, a bunch of assholes to keep people ignorant? The church grasps at power to soothe its fear as it seeks to silence its perceived enemies; that way, we’ll all believe America is the greatest nation on this earth.
FoxNews fills in the blank by stoking the fear and outrage over things that should not concern us (because it is none of our business) while rejoicing in your own toxic culture of ignorance and lies. In the interest of holiness (the appearance of anyway,) we are really, really concerned about who is fucking who. Yet, we think it is best to keep young people in the dark about sexuality. This posture demonstrably hurts them. No honest conversations here, that wouldn’t be prudent. The purity culture is harmful to everyone be they male, female, or, especially, non-binary. Leaving the bulk of argument against all the Dobson inspired destruction to another day, I’ll just point out yet again that appearance of good does not matter, people matter. Disempowering people by feeding them bullshit while at the same time promising to protect them is very harmful to the people being managed in authoritarian fashion. I’m siding with the science on what is harmful and what isn’t. I will not be compliant with the demonstrably harmful teachings of the church.
To be fair, I’m an asshole too. There is no riding the edge of the dime. There is no compromise—those days are gone. Shall we check numbers? Shall we check about how we feel about those numbers? The fact, brothers and sisters, is that people are leaving. Disgusted. I’ve gone over this time after time. Because I do not comply, which is what the sermon was all about, the whole question of ‘what is the good life?’ has been condensed by our Christian leaders into a neat little package of hygiene, obedience, attendance, tithing, and charity. Got to put some truth in there to make all the rest of the bullshit palatable. What remains is a call to ignore the elephant in the room.
I’ve been called a ‘hateful divider,’ and an ‘agent of Satan,’ but truthfully there is little which saddens me more than a right-wing ideology that not only obliterates but substitutes for those things we have recorded that Jesus taught us. I know the ‘righteous’ will have their panties in a wad about me using profanity. Got me? The Bible does not discuss or contain all there is to know about ethics. There must be a ‘mode,’ an ‘idea,’ or, heaven forbid, a worldly philosophy about things the Bible didn’t give us rote commands to follow. Do Christians not realize that in forwarding the philosophy of Fundamentalism/Conservative Evangelicalism which, among other things, promised answers to everything (supposedly contained in the Bible) has only built a system to maintain the power of the men behind the pulpits? This is a big part of what the ex-vangelical rebellion is all about; we object to the foundation the evangelical church has laid for itself.
Yes, I am in rebellion. But, to maintain order, and if I am to maintain my material prosperity, it is imperative that I be seen (and marginalized) as a madman. In this sense, I am completely disposable as just trouble. In our environment, saturated with lies, I pose no threat. This is heartbreaking for me. My toothless question to the ‘pillar of the truth,’ ‘why then does your house crumble?’ does not matter. But you can’t have me.