Jim Wallis once said - Hope is believing inspite of the evidence, and watching the evidence change ...Today Jim Wallis is one of those appointed by President Barack Obama to sit on an advisorary committee to oversee how Faith Based Organizations can help address some of the many challenges facing the US using Federal support and Federal Money. George Bush's idea has been morphed by the new administration into something broader, and more socially responsible than the narrow operating definition that had marked the previous few years ...
There are those who said Wallis and other activist were tilting at windmills ...
Maybe they were ...
But today we have an intelligent, articulate and outspoken ACTIVIST in the highest office in the United States of America who has not only embodied Hope, but is helping the evidence change ...
In his first two weeks in office, President Obama has set a very different course than his predecessor. His pronouncements on a wide range of topics show a man who is not only highly intelligent and highly aware, but who is willing to tilt at windmills that NEED TO BE KNOCKED DOWN.
Last night's denouncement of the Republicans who want "stimulus not spending" cuts through the hollow rhetoric and demands that they simply piss or get off the pot ...
Too bad we can't have that kind of leadership in the United Church of Canada ... instead we have our own Republicans who posture and pontificate and ultimately do nothing but protect their positions of privilege and power ... one day they will see ...
Until then, the prophetic voices that have echoed since the time of Amos and his kin continue to speak out and be marginalized and ignored ... rather than listening to the validity of their words, The Church continues to ignore and cast out those who do not fit the mould. Yet ironically, all the while the leaders of the Church fill their shelves with books like "The Audacity of Hope", "Faithworks" and "The Call to Conversion" because they erroneously and comfortably believe that the ideas contained within are somewhere "over there" and have no direct bearing on the day to day reality of The Church ...
Hmmm ... remember a guy named James Gareth Endicott???
The Church said he was wrong ... for years they condemned and reviled him ... and in time The Church apologized to him for being WRONG.
Just because the so-called "majority" says the sky is mauve, doesn't make it so ... The Prophetic voices are calling us to faithfulness, NOT tilting at windmills ... ignoring those voices, including mine, is a choice. But like those who shook their heads at Amos, Gandhi, King, Wallis and even Obama, you do so at your peril ...
The evidence is CHANGING ... we can be part of the change, or we can continue to oppose it ... but given that change is a gift from God, there is really only one response - and opposition ain't it!!
3 comments:
In fact, the sky was mauve this morning as the sun moved into sight over the eastern horizon.
What in the world is not about you and your problems with the church?
The funny thing is ... this isn't about me and my problems with the Church ... it's about seeing the under-currents and trends that have CREATED the problems I and others have had with The Church and the political structures that surround us ...
I've had dozens of conversations with people who have had the SAME experiences in The Church (some of them in the SAME CHURCH)and they continue to encourage me to speak out and speak up ... THEY see the trends and under-currents and want to see things change, but run hard against the wall that prevents our words becoming action.
Dismissing and ridiculing and ignoring my words will not stop the inevitablitiy of change ... as others have observed - that which opposes God will not stand ... I'm not saying that I am wholly right and without error - I am asking - no I am DEMANDING - that the Church unstop its ears and open its eyes and LISTEN to those who are standing outside and asking for CHANGE.
There is a reason the church is dying in places like Western Manitoba. The treatment of clergy like me and The Rev. Bob Matton and others - many of whom stay silent out of FEAR - is a SYMPTOM - a symptom those in power want to ignore ...
Track down some of Bill Hick's scathing and very accurate comedy and listen to what he says about "going to sleep" while truly evil forces in our world run amock - and ask yourself what YOU are doing to make a difference in the world BEFORE you judge others ...
BTW, The sky is BLUE ... shifting colours in a glorious sunrise doesn't change the underlying reality !! And a cloudy day doesn't change the TRUTH !!!
I wish I could relate to your problems with "the church" but I realized, at a young age, that church wasn't for me. I didn't understand why following a book written (as David Cross says) when people were EVEN DUMBER than they are now. Not to mention how its been translated countless times by tonnes of evil pricks that had their own interests in mind. I've get better things to do with my time then reading a book that promotes all kind of rubbish that doesn't apply to today's world. I also believe that no sect of Christianity should be able to pick-and-chose which part of GOD'S WORD they follow. God says in Leviticus that Gays should be killed... Leviticus also gives you the ever so handy information on how to best acquire slaves... Great reading material!
If the church has turned it's back on you, why not turn your back on it? Is church even that necessary? Do Christians really need a middleman?
By the way, I like reading your blog and believe that you do have a lot of insightful things to say.
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