RANT OF THE DAY

My Friend has the e-mail address “church people plague me” and you know what, it’s true! I have never felt more condemnation, shame and contempt from another people group. “church people” use the Bible like it’s a weapon. They spit out these random quotes that make them feel justified to treat others with a lack of love, grace and respect. Being able to spit out words of truth does not mean you are speaking Truth. Church people (or religious people) are like cattle. They hear something and immediately follow and assimilate it as if it is fact. They run around firehosing people with these ideas. They don’t engage God for themselves so they have no concept of God’s real heart or intent. They just spout out lovely cliches that sound really great to other church people who affirm this insanity and nod in agreement. They sit together on these judgments seats casting out final verdicts to anyone who crosses their path! Following concepts becomes so much easier than following a person…cause when you follow a person you are required to grow and shift and move. And when you love people, you are bound to come to the end of yourself and you will have to face your own issues. For many that is WAY TOO UNCOMFORTABLE and so it’s easier to hide your real yuk behind religiosity and concepts so that you can feel better about yourself and critize others who in your mind are “less godly”—all the while embracing concepts that you don’t even fully understand!!!

We are called to journey together–people with people–people with God. We live in community because in a group their is safety, power and wisdom. When we know each other we can speak truth to each other. We can help each other to see the things that as individuals we may not see or struggle to see. We can share ideas and dreams and empower one another to keep going–running toward God, learning how to fully live, learning how to love. How can you really love when you aren’t truly living alongside people. We are all broken and scared and complex. And real love comes in getting involved in peoples yuk! I can feel Jesus when I read the Gospels and He doesn’t shame people. The only time he speaks harshly or blasts anyone…guess who it is…yup, it’s church people! Interesting!!! He knows as people we struggle…He wants us to be honest and real with Him and with others. NO masks! How can we fully live if we aren’t taking a good, hard look at ourselves! You know what that brings…it bring humility and compassion! That’s where we need to start in order to LOVE. LOVE and GRACE man! that’s where it’s at–a state of existence we need to live in constantly. God just wants to be near us and wants us to allow Him to love us and He wants us to love Him. It’s simple really.

I was talking to Chrissy yesterday. I don’t know her really well but just in the few times we’ve talked I really connect with her. Anyway, we were talking about children and what a great responsibility it is to shape the mind of a person and how terrifying it is cause we don’t want to screw anyone else up! She asked about my childhood…I laughed cause I had a pretty decent one. Parents are still married…they loved me pretty good and yet I am still screwed up..WOW that sucks! She laughed too cause she related to what I was saying. This is what I need to remember…when someone is bugging the hell out of me–be patient–cause it doesn’t take much to be pretty jacked up in this life and we are all trying to wade through our crap. I need to be part of the solution –not the problem. It blows my mind, really, that God manages to get stuff done through us … pretty cool!

Yesterday we hung out at the beach all day. Around 6PM Dean gathered us together and talked to us about the meaning of baptism. We come together as a group to be witnesses like at a wedding. We witness two people making a decision to live with each other for the rest of their lives. So, like at a wedding, baptism is a public declaration of your love for this person, Jesus, and as friends we are there to celebrate the moment and to be witnesses of this decision. And, as friends we are around each other when things are great and when things get tough. We will feel like giving up sometimes…and that’s why we have people/friends around us…

Ok so all of this is leading my thoughts into “going to church.” We are the church, right? So for us yesterday, “the church” hung out at the beach. Some went scuba diving, others sunbathed. Some climbed rocks and sat with a seal while watching the waves. Some surfed. Some played ultimate frisbee. We are just people. We enjoy each other and help each other experience God. We cry with each other. We help each other with words of affirmation and Truth. Why does it get so complex? Why do we shame and hurt others? Why do we have expectations about what church is and who people are supposed to be? We all worshipped yesterday (in the different forms I listed above). And, then as a group, we witnessed and celebrated 4 people getting baptized. Was that not church?

I have more thoughts but I need to process some more…

There’s still time
All that has been devastated
Can be recreated
Realize
We pick up the broken pieces
Of our lives
Giving ourselves to each other…
ourselves to each other
To rest our head on…
Who’s got my back now?
When all we have left is deceptive
So disconnected
So what is the truth now?

Tell me the truth now…