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!
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