I'm so tired of "boo hoo" Christianity. Every Sunday it's the same sob story. "The hedonists won't let us pray. The ACLU won't let us have the 10 Commandments in front of schools. The liberals don't want us to say the name Jesus. The intellectuals want us all to gay marry and make our teenager daughters have abortions."
PLEASE! SHUT UP!
If we as Christians truly know that we serve the Creator of LIFE THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING, then we have absolutely nothing to whine about! But still we prance around like a bunch of mewling babes like "wah wah some mean bad ol' liberals took away our lollipops!"
Christianity has nothing to whine about. It's had pretty much a free ride for the last millennium or so, and quite frankly, if people are anti-Christianity, it's because we Christians have done such a piss-poor job of representing our Christ.
Look, can we expect some Muslim to spread the message of Christ? Some atheist? Some Buddhist? Nooo, we Christians have to spread the message of the love of Jesus Christ. Frankly, if we had been doing our jobs all these years, every one would be a Christ follower now. The fact that they are not just proves that we, as Christians, are sloppy, lazy, and frankly, incompetent.
So let's get over this "boo hoo - the world's against us" Christianity and get out there and start digging wells, feeding the hungry, building shelters for the homeless, bringing medicine to the sick, protecting the innocent, seeking justice for those who have been wronged, and providing comfort and companionship for the incarcerated.
Let's get out there and start WORKING!
Showing posts with label Second. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Second. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Monday, January 16, 2012
Overheard at Booth 3: Flee from Anger
Two women sitting in Booth 3: one asks the other what happened last week at church.
The other says, "The sermon was all about how happy people flee from anger. Well, I was an angry person this morning, I got in the shower and my daughter never puts the spout bck right and it goes flopping over my head and whipping around my shoulder and bouncing all over the tub. And I didn't flee from my any but I tell you my daughter sure learned to flee from my anger!"
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Mark Twain's The War Prayer
As I study the Holy Bible and try my best to get into a closer walk with Jesus Christ, the more dissatisfied I become. With so many things. Not the least of those things: these wars. These bloody endless wars that we Americans allow to continue and we don't even think about most days. We just let our government take our brothers and sisters and cousins and turn them into killing machines. We make commercials that show a man sending a drone plane to blow up a mountain, and he still makes it home in time for supper.
And our chuches keep telling us to write prayer cards in support of these soldiers that we are allowing to be abused - by our government. And never ONCE a prayer for our enemies, as God Himself commanded us to pray. I tried to find words for these feelings, some way to express it, and by some miracle, I found some human words written over a century ago, by none other than a writer who no American can deny is THE pre-eminent American Man of Letters. None other than Mark Twain, who, in this short passage, spoke not only for his time, for the time before, but was so prescient that he could not have known that he was writing for America of today.
Read on, my friends:
The War Prayer
Dictated by Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens] in 1904 in advance of his death in 1910.
During his writing career, he had criticized perhaps every type of person or institution either living or dead. But this piece was just a little too hot for his family to tolerate. Since they believed the short narrative would be regarded as sacrilege, they urged him not to publish it. However, Sam was to have the last word, and even the word after that. Having directed it to be published after his death, he said,
"I have told the truth in that... and only dead men can tell the truth in this world."
- William H. Huff
The War Prayer
by Mark Twain
It was a time of great exulting and excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest depths of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast doubt upon its righteousness straight way got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.
Sunday morning came – next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams – visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! – then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation:
"God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest, Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!"
Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory –
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there, waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside – which the startled minister did – and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
"I come from the Throne – bearing a message from Almighty God!"
The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import – that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of – except he pause and think.
"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two – one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this – keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
"You have heard your servant's prayer – the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it – that part which the pastor – and also you in your hearts – fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory – must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them – in spirit – we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with hurricanes of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."
[After a pause.] "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits."
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
******************************
And our chuches keep telling us to write prayer cards in support of these soldiers that we are allowing to be abused - by our government. And never ONCE a prayer for our enemies, as God Himself commanded us to pray. I tried to find words for these feelings, some way to express it, and by some miracle, I found some human words written over a century ago, by none other than a writer who no American can deny is THE pre-eminent American Man of Letters. None other than Mark Twain, who, in this short passage, spoke not only for his time, for the time before, but was so prescient that he could not have known that he was writing for America of today.
Read on, my friends:
The War Prayer
Dictated by Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens] in 1904 in advance of his death in 1910.
During his writing career, he had criticized perhaps every type of person or institution either living or dead. But this piece was just a little too hot for his family to tolerate. Since they believed the short narrative would be regarded as sacrilege, they urged him not to publish it. However, Sam was to have the last word, and even the word after that. Having directed it to be published after his death, he said,
"I have told the truth in that... and only dead men can tell the truth in this world."
- William H. Huff
The War Prayer
by Mark Twain
It was a time of great exulting and excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest depths of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast doubt upon its righteousness straight way got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.
Sunday morning came – next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams – visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! – then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation:
"God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest, Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!"
Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory –
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there, waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside – which the startled minister did – and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
"I come from the Throne – bearing a message from Almighty God!"
The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import – that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of – except he pause and think.
"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two – one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this – keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
"You have heard your servant's prayer – the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it – that part which the pastor – and also you in your hearts – fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory – must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them – in spirit – we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with hurricanes of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."
[After a pause.] "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits."
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
******************************
Monday, October 3, 2011
Overheard at Table 3
You know, the more I study the more I come to this conclusion: with the exception of Psalms, Proverbs, Solomon, and Ecclesiastes (which I call Praise Songs, Fortune Cookies, Erotica, and Guide-to-Healthy-Living), if someone is quoting any other book in the Old Testament, but not in the context of how prophesy is fulfilled in the New Testatment, then they're simply trying to establish a position in favor of thier support for their own bigotry, intolerence, murder, and war.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Overheard at Table 2: Sea Turtles and Unborn Babies
Niall Carter, sitting with Millie Nagadoces, is ruminating over a mocha latte. "You know," he says, "The pastor mentioned something last Sunday that still hasn't quite seeped through the mental webbing, if you know what I mean."
"As I rarely do," Millie interjects.
"But he was on his series about the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, and you know I told you the week before the Meek are apparently those with the backbone enough to tell the government to kill Social Security, but this week was those who thirst for righteousness, and apparently we do not 'thirst for righteousness' if we live in a country where the rights of a sea turtle are protected more than those of an unborn child."
"He said that?"
"He did. Now, there's something logically incorrect about that statement, but I can't put my finger on it. There's some fallacy of logic there."
"It's simple. They're completely separate issues. I call it the False Juxtaposition. You put them together for an emotional statement. It's an emotional appeal to make people think that those who try to protect the environment want to kill unborn babies."
"i.e. 'Liberals'."
"And Progressives. Apparently we're all out to eat your fetuses. But really, the laws or lack therof trying to save a species that will go out of existence, because there are only 1300 of them left were developed in a completely different vacuum than the much more all-encompassing debate of abortion slash right-to-choose. To put them together narrowly reframes the context so that any moral human being would have no other decision, morally, than to be outraged against the abortion. But the argument should have never been framed, because there are so much more facets to each - and separately."
"I knew there was a reason why I like talking to you. Another cappucino?"
"As I rarely do," Millie interjects.
"But he was on his series about the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, and you know I told you the week before the Meek are apparently those with the backbone enough to tell the government to kill Social Security, but this week was those who thirst for righteousness, and apparently we do not 'thirst for righteousness' if we live in a country where the rights of a sea turtle are protected more than those of an unborn child."
"He said that?"
"He did. Now, there's something logically incorrect about that statement, but I can't put my finger on it. There's some fallacy of logic there."
"It's simple. They're completely separate issues. I call it the False Juxtaposition. You put them together for an emotional statement. It's an emotional appeal to make people think that those who try to protect the environment want to kill unborn babies."
"i.e. 'Liberals'."
"And Progressives. Apparently we're all out to eat your fetuses. But really, the laws or lack therof trying to save a species that will go out of existence, because there are only 1300 of them left were developed in a completely different vacuum than the much more all-encompassing debate of abortion slash right-to-choose. To put them together narrowly reframes the context so that any moral human being would have no other decision, morally, than to be outraged against the abortion. But the argument should have never been framed, because there are so much more facets to each - and separately."
"I knew there was a reason why I like talking to you. Another cappucino?"
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Overheard at Booth 2: Biblical Meekness
I overheard those two guys talking about a sermon on meekness that seems like it went, like, way off the deep end, so I decided to look up Biblical meekness. This seems like a pretty decent essay on the topic:
http://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/PERSONAL/k/237/The-Fruit-of-Spirit-Meekness.htm
http://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/PERSONAL/k/237/The-Fruit-of-Spirit-Meekness.htm
Overheard at Booth 3: Moribund Second
Dale: I'm almost scared to go back to service tomorrow.
Sandeep: Why's that?
Dale: You should have been there last Sunday. Jumpin' Jehovah in a Crackerjack box, the pastor was on fire. We're working through Sermon on the Mount and we're on "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," and then he tells us that meek doesn't mean mild or humble, but tempered by God, "disciplined" was the word he used. Then he went on this hour long tirade about how the government is undisciplined and we have undisciplined people in government who just want to spend more than they have and oh, man it was nuts.
Sandeep: So, he just got sidetracked, you think? Veered wildly off into a tangent?
Dale: No! That's the sad thing - he had presentation slides on the display screens! Numbers, man, numbers about how much we spend on Social Security, Medicare, Defense. He was saying that we have to get rid of our entitlements, we have to be more "disciplined" It was nuts, man, seriously nuts.
Sandeep: How'd the congregation take it?
Dale: Oh, ship-to-stern, dude, that was the scariest part of all! They ate - it - up! Seriously. You know, I can understand how the congregation could be proud of the 4th of July speech, and I thought it was a bit much for the pastor to make a sermon on 9-11, but maybe he just got pumped up by their response for that, because on THIS sermon, they were cheering and clapping and ovationing at every point he made against the government. I seriously thought that if he told them to go get some torches and pitchforks they'd go burn down Washington DC. These guys were almost rabid!
Sandeep: Sounds almost like a cult.
Dale: It felt like it. I was looking toward the door, trying to see how I could get my family away from these nutbars. But I gotta tell you, my wife, man, she is one sweet-heart lady who just puts it all into perspective, and man I wish I had the sack to have stood up and told this pastor what she told me . . .
Sandeep: Kinda hard to take a stand in the middle of a 3,000-strong mindless mob, don't you think?
Dale: Which is why I stayed put! But at one point, the pastor said, "There is nothing in the Constitution about the separation of church and state." And my wife looked over at me and said, "He's right. It's in the Bible. 'Render unto Caesar that is Caesar's, and render unto God what is God's."
Sandeep: Seems like she's better as your wife than she ever was as my sister.
Dale: I dunno. She says you weren't the easiest brother to get along with.
Sandeep: But I never got her involved in a cult.
Dale: Ouch, bro!
Sandeep: Why's that?
Dale: You should have been there last Sunday. Jumpin' Jehovah in a Crackerjack box, the pastor was on fire. We're working through Sermon on the Mount and we're on "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," and then he tells us that meek doesn't mean mild or humble, but tempered by God, "disciplined" was the word he used. Then he went on this hour long tirade about how the government is undisciplined and we have undisciplined people in government who just want to spend more than they have and oh, man it was nuts.
Sandeep: So, he just got sidetracked, you think? Veered wildly off into a tangent?
Dale: No! That's the sad thing - he had presentation slides on the display screens! Numbers, man, numbers about how much we spend on Social Security, Medicare, Defense. He was saying that we have to get rid of our entitlements, we have to be more "disciplined" It was nuts, man, seriously nuts.
Sandeep: How'd the congregation take it?
Dale: Oh, ship-to-stern, dude, that was the scariest part of all! They ate - it - up! Seriously. You know, I can understand how the congregation could be proud of the 4th of July speech, and I thought it was a bit much for the pastor to make a sermon on 9-11, but maybe he just got pumped up by their response for that, because on THIS sermon, they were cheering and clapping and ovationing at every point he made against the government. I seriously thought that if he told them to go get some torches and pitchforks they'd go burn down Washington DC. These guys were almost rabid!
Sandeep: Sounds almost like a cult.
Dale: It felt like it. I was looking toward the door, trying to see how I could get my family away from these nutbars. But I gotta tell you, my wife, man, she is one sweet-heart lady who just puts it all into perspective, and man I wish I had the sack to have stood up and told this pastor what she told me . . .
Sandeep: Kinda hard to take a stand in the middle of a 3,000-strong mindless mob, don't you think?
Dale: Which is why I stayed put! But at one point, the pastor said, "There is nothing in the Constitution about the separation of church and state." And my wife looked over at me and said, "He's right. It's in the Bible. 'Render unto Caesar that is Caesar's, and render unto God what is God's."
Sandeep: Seems like she's better as your wife than she ever was as my sister.
Dale: I dunno. She says you weren't the easiest brother to get along with.
Sandeep: But I never got her involved in a cult.
Dale: Ouch, bro!
Friday, September 9, 2011
A Short Story from the Pulpit
A few weeks ago in church we had a guest pastor giving the sermon, one who frequently peppers his speeches with sports vignettes and metaphors, which is usually an effective teaching tool, especially among this type of down-home, rough-and-tumble congregation. However, the more I think about what he told us, the more I feel uncomfortable with it.
This particular story was about an assistant coach to a pro-football team somewhere in New England, I forget which team, but it's one of the big ones. Throughout his tenure as coach he always had a witty rapport with an old African-American man who worked in the cafeteria. The man was always joking with the coach that one day he was going to own his mercedes. The coach would always joke, "Man, you could never afford my Mercedes!" Ha ha, lots of laughs.
Then, last year, the coach got a job as a head coach with a pro team down south, and on his last day at work, he went to the old African-American man and said, "Hey, do you have any cash I could have? I forgot my wallet today." And the African-American man pulled out all the cash he had in his wallet - a $20 bill.
He handed it to the coach, and the coach handed him the keys to his Mercedes and said, "You just bought yourself a Mercedes!"
And there was an "Oooooooooooooh!" that went through that congregation - a sigh of such sweetness at this tender story - look at how wonderful was this coach! Giving this man his Mercedes for only $20! How nice he is! What a good CHRISTIAN he is!
And I immediately thought of the widow at the box, the one that Jesus was so focused on the day before he was slaughtered: He said to his disciples, "Look at that woman, she gives two coins - all she has. And that other man, the rich man, he gives 100. But WHICH ONE has shown more favor to God?"
The answer is the African-American man: he gave all the money he had in his wallet to a man who makes multiple millions of dollars per year, and now with his new head coaching gig, will probably be able to buy a new Mercedes every month of his life until he dies! And yet, this story was intended to show what a great Christian is the coach - for showering such pity on the poor.
I couldn't believe my ears. I was stunned at the reaction of the congregation. Could they not see? Could they not hear? Did they not believe?
At the very least, the pastor should have ended the story with "but the coach also gave him back the twenty! But noooooooo! He probably kept the bill!"
We have to start looking at the quality of our giving - and not at the stuff that we give.
My God! I cry out every time I think of it!
This particular story was about an assistant coach to a pro-football team somewhere in New England, I forget which team, but it's one of the big ones. Throughout his tenure as coach he always had a witty rapport with an old African-American man who worked in the cafeteria. The man was always joking with the coach that one day he was going to own his mercedes. The coach would always joke, "Man, you could never afford my Mercedes!" Ha ha, lots of laughs.
Then, last year, the coach got a job as a head coach with a pro team down south, and on his last day at work, he went to the old African-American man and said, "Hey, do you have any cash I could have? I forgot my wallet today." And the African-American man pulled out all the cash he had in his wallet - a $20 bill.
He handed it to the coach, and the coach handed him the keys to his Mercedes and said, "You just bought yourself a Mercedes!"
And there was an "Oooooooooooooh!" that went through that congregation - a sigh of such sweetness at this tender story - look at how wonderful was this coach! Giving this man his Mercedes for only $20! How nice he is! What a good CHRISTIAN he is!
And I immediately thought of the widow at the box, the one that Jesus was so focused on the day before he was slaughtered: He said to his disciples, "Look at that woman, she gives two coins - all she has. And that other man, the rich man, he gives 100. But WHICH ONE has shown more favor to God?"
The answer is the African-American man: he gave all the money he had in his wallet to a man who makes multiple millions of dollars per year, and now with his new head coaching gig, will probably be able to buy a new Mercedes every month of his life until he dies! And yet, this story was intended to show what a great Christian is the coach - for showering such pity on the poor.
I couldn't believe my ears. I was stunned at the reaction of the congregation. Could they not see? Could they not hear? Did they not believe?
At the very least, the pastor should have ended the story with "but the coach also gave him back the twenty! But noooooooo! He probably kept the bill!"
We have to start looking at the quality of our giving - and not at the stuff that we give.
My God! I cry out every time I think of it!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Overheard at Table 3: Second on the Fourth
What I learned at Second on the Fourth of July:
I learned that in 1783, Benjamin Franklin, as he was walking out of Constitution Hall, was approached by a woman who asked him, "What kind of government have you given us?" - to which he replied, "A republic, if we can keep it."
I learned that Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptists, referencing the flight from England and its state-run church.
I learned that John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of our country, said once that "the birth of our nation is linked to the birthday of our Saviour."
I was tricked by the question, which Founding Father said that we stand fast in the Liberty in the liberty when Christ set us free. This turned out to be a trick question: it wasn't posted by a Founding Father, but the Apostle Paul.
I learned that Patrick Henry stated that it "can't be said too strongly: our nation is founded on Christ."
I learned that John Jay also proclaimed us a Christian nation.
and that Noah Webster (of Webster's Dictionary) stated that the Bible is the source of all moral principles and that "all miseries arise from ignoring its precepts."
I forget exactly, but Alexander Hamilton also said something about "in Jesus"
I also learned that the other great revolution of the century, the French revolution, in contrast to our Christ-founded revolution, was a revolution based on humanity, and that the French paraded a streetwoman up through the Notre Dame cathedral and placed her on the altar and proclaimed her the Goddess of Reason. and the congregation cheered, so bathed we were in the knowledge that we are, because of our divine birth, are so much stronger and healthier and happier, and better, than those sad, sad Frenchies.
I tell you, I was so proud! I mean, I've seen these people walking out during benediction and taking their seats for opening prayers, time after time for over a year, and on this day, when they were saying the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the service, every man woman and child were at full attention on the flag. I mean, at the end of the service and suddenly seeing how much God gave us our country, I tell you I almost expected to see Jesus Christ Himself descending through the ceiling wrapped in a robe of the Red, White, and Blue!
I learned that in 1783, Benjamin Franklin, as he was walking out of Constitution Hall, was approached by a woman who asked him, "What kind of government have you given us?" - to which he replied, "A republic, if we can keep it."
I learned that Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptists, referencing the flight from England and its state-run church.
I learned that John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of our country, said once that "the birth of our nation is linked to the birthday of our Saviour."
I was tricked by the question, which Founding Father said that we stand fast in the Liberty in the liberty when Christ set us free. This turned out to be a trick question: it wasn't posted by a Founding Father, but the Apostle Paul.
I learned that Patrick Henry stated that it "can't be said too strongly: our nation is founded on Christ."
I learned that John Jay also proclaimed us a Christian nation.
and that Noah Webster (of Webster's Dictionary) stated that the Bible is the source of all moral principles and that "all miseries arise from ignoring its precepts."
I forget exactly, but Alexander Hamilton also said something about "in Jesus"
I also learned that the other great revolution of the century, the French revolution, in contrast to our Christ-founded revolution, was a revolution based on humanity, and that the French paraded a streetwoman up through the Notre Dame cathedral and placed her on the altar and proclaimed her the Goddess of Reason. and the congregation cheered, so bathed we were in the knowledge that we are, because of our divine birth, are so much stronger and healthier and happier, and better, than those sad, sad Frenchies.
I tell you, I was so proud! I mean, I've seen these people walking out during benediction and taking their seats for opening prayers, time after time for over a year, and on this day, when they were saying the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the service, every man woman and child were at full attention on the flag. I mean, at the end of the service and suddenly seeing how much God gave us our country, I tell you I almost expected to see Jesus Christ Himself descending through the ceiling wrapped in a robe of the Red, White, and Blue!
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