Great Post about TEC and "The Situation"

This might be kind of weird- posting a post that was in response to something on another blog. However, I did not know how to link to the post (it was on the comments on Father Jake Stops the World- a blog I read every day- sometimes twice a day).

This was from Harry in the comments section. I hope he forgives me for reposting it without his permission...

Having gays as scapegoats makes everything that is murky about American Christian life easier.

Everybody in America knows gays are everywhere. We have hit TV shows based on gay characters. We have constant revelations of gays in high and low places.

So, if we can pretend gays don't exist in our churches and base it on the idea of 'the one true orthodoxy' then we create a formula for dealing with everything else that is murky in our lives as Christians. If I say ridiculous things like, 'God Hates Fags' (from the extremists), to 'homosexuality is a choice' (from the slightly less extreme) to 'celibacy is an option' (from many Christians who know nothing about psychology or celibacy) to 'they can be cured if they ask Jesus to do so' (from those who have no idea what statistics on cures are and how dangerous they are for the individuals and their families)...if we can convince ourselves that the complex problem of homosexuality can be buried in blind faith, then the rest of it all becomes easy.

Witness the 70% figure for people who identify as Christian. Everyone who lives in this country knows that as time goes by fewer and fewer people go to church. I come from West Virginia mountain people, and I spent years as a farmer--so I'm not just talking about my arsty-fartsy intelligentsia Episcopalian friends! But, because we have a model for burying things--the gay model--we can bury the 'definition' of being Christian as easily.

One could make the argument that a 'yes' answer to the question 'are you Christian?' would be possible only if one answered yes to the following questions:

1. Do you actively feed the hungry?
2. Do you visit prisons?
3. Do you work to make sure people have places to sleep at night?

etc.

But these aren't the kinds of questions that matter when we start counting Christians. What matters is:

1. Are you Evangelical?
2. Where do you come down on the gay thing?

For Christ's sake, let's do the work and stop raising high the cross that's built of a million splinters over arguments that only mask the sloppiness of everyone's practice of Christian religion.

BY THE WAY--THE BIG GUY got really mad at King David for counting his troups, and I wonder if he likes it when we do....
Harry
__________________________________________________________

Nicely put, don't you think?

Tim Edits a Prayer Chain!!!

I got the following chain mail from someone. I have not confirmed if it is an Urban Legend or not. At first I thought it harmless enough, but it got me thinking. This prayer is subtly xenophobic.

ONE MINUTE EACH NIGHT

In WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of

People who dropped what they were doing every night

One minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people

And peace. There is now a group of people organizing the

Same thing here in America. If you would like to participate: Each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time

(8:00 PM Central) (6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and

Spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our

Troops, our citizens, and for a Godly nation. If you know anyone who

Would like participate, please pass this along.

Someone said if Christians really understood the full extent of the

Power we have available through prayer, we might be

Speechless. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.

Together, we "CAN" make a difference!


I offered the following edit and sent it out to the same email list that I was on.

ONE MINUTE EACH NIGHT

In WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of

People who dropped what they were doing every night

One minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people

And peace. There is now a group of people organizing the

Same thing here in America. We have the opportunity, however, to
remember all people in prayer and not just the people of our nation.

If you would like to participate: Each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time

(8:00 PM Central) (6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and

Spend one minute praying for the safety of all of the people everywhere,
for the cessation of all conflict , the citizens of all nations, and for a world at peace. If you know anyone who would like participate, please pass this along.

Someone said if people of all faiths really understood the full extent of the

Power we have available through prayer, we might be Speechless. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have. Together, we "CAN" make a difference!

____________________________________

OK- so I get the sentiment of it and am sure that whoever sent this meant well.

However, as a Christian, I think I am called to pray for all people everywhere. My sister's church, First Baptist Chickamaugua, GA has a great slogan "Everybody Matters." If God's grace is real, then God loves all people - even people who might hate us and want us to die. That's a hard thing to swallow. Anne Lamott made the remark in one of her books (I think it was "Plan B") that God does not "have the same taste in people as we do."

Time Out World

We listen to XM Kids on the satellite radio every morning during our short commute to school. Many of the songs I find insufferable and often will insist that we switch over to X-Country or XMU. Any song with Elmo or any of the "Crazy Frog" tunes will necessitate a rapid channel change.

There's one song that I heard recently that I wish they would play on the radio. It's probably one of the best anti-war songs I have ever heard and the first "message intensive" kid's song I have heard in a while. Time Out World by The Sippy Cups says that we need a "Time Out World."

Many days when I hear the news, I wish that I had a huge loudspeaker I could get on and yell to everyone on earth "OK, let's just all chill the hell out... Time-out everyone. No hitting or yelling or (especially) shooting at each other." Put us all in opposite corners until we apologize to each other and admit our mistakes. Ground us all from our TV's and Ferraris and SUV's and Merlot until we are really sorry for hurting each other.

Time-out world. I'd like to live there.