Monday reviewed.

Monday reviewed.m4a

I have said previously in a one-page meditation that I have published, self-published a while back that Christianity is not about God, it’s not about Jesus, Christianity is about us.

Christianity is about us, not about Jesus, not about God.

Christianity is about us, and that’s why Christianity is about Jesus and about God.

The reason that Christianity is about Jesus and God is because Christianity is about us.

It says, for us and for our salvation he came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and became man, for us and for our salvation, for us.

This is my body broken for you, for you.

Christianity is about us.

Christianity is not about taking away our volition or taking away our identity, it is about rescuing our identity, it is about protecting our identity, it is about giving soil, good soil for us to grow in.

It is about protecting us from lies, protecting us from lures of the world that would have us follow them with empty promises and vain deceits.

Now why am I talking about this now?

Well, I knew that things were coming.

I’ve been dealing with some difficult relationships, and I got to a stopping point after getting my daughter to bed, and I felt myself getting anxious, thinking about things, analyzing things, and I knew better.

I know that’s not solid ground.

Anxiety, and I’m not talking about biological anxiety, I’m talking about temperamental anxiety, I’m talking about worrying.

Guest posts welcome. No edits. As little gatekeeping as possible.

Modern Troubleshooting

a few thoughts on the human condition, Israel

I’d love to hear Rabbi Sacks on this and other rabbis, but it’s almost as if when you think about Egypt and the Red Sea and the manna in the desert and the Promised Land. You know, I don’t want to try to read Christianity into Judaism. I’m making a special point not to do that, but I’m just thinking that it shows that Israel shows the human condition. I see the human condition in Christ crucified, but if I think about the arc of humanity, you know, and the way that Israel started off so great, you know, they were slaves, slaves that were rescued, and then, you know, they went through a hard period and they wish they had gone back to Egypt where they had food. And then, you know, and I know the archaeology is different, but it doesn’t make any difference. We’re talking about the spiritual interpretation. So they’re in the wilderness, and then, you know, they get there. I don’t know, I don’t remember all the details, but then basically they turn into Egyptians. You know, they turn into Egyptians themselves, and the prophets rise up. And so I think it’s saying something about human nature in the sense that, you know, the powerful always, the humans will always seek power and be corrupted. Is that a fair interpretation?

But am I reading too much Christianity into it? Sometimes I think that when I hear Rabbi Sacks speak or others, they seem to be speaking about themselves, their community, and their life within the community. I’m very hesitant to try to make an interpretation of Judaism at that level, or any level, frankly.

The Gospel According To The Right Reverend Chris Warner, Bishop

🎧 The Gospel According To The Right Reverend Chris Warner, Bishop

*My error—I should have said alliteration not anaphora.

I just heard a beautiful sermon from a bishop at my church.

I would call it the Gospel according to Nietzsche.

The beautiful part in part was that it had alliteration as my debate coach would say.

He talked about posture, something and something.

They all started with P.

Praise, anyway, posture, praise and proclamation.

He started with the story of Simeon and Anna in the temple and talked about how they were so attuned to the Holy Spirit that they recognized Christ when he came to the temple.

He also talked about how if you have this certain type of posture that you’re going to end up praising and proclaiming.

And my response is in part, look at Job, look at Job. I think it’s naive and harmful to tell people that if they are following Christ, that’s going to lead them to praise and wanting to tell others.

Because for some of us, following Christ, like Job, obviously Job is in the Old Testament but he’s following God, who is Christ, just not yet born and incarnated, if you will.

But for some of us, following Christ, it doesn’t lead to praise.

It leads to cursing.

It leads to cursing the day we were born, cursing God, wishing we were dead, wishing we had never been born.

That’s what you see in Job. That’s what you see in the Psalms.

And so for a bishop in his red garments to come in and tell people that they should model themselves off of people that are professional worshipers like Anna and Simeon, and that’s their whole life, and that that life necessarily leads to praise and proclamation because of their posture.

That is naive and harmful, not only because it doesn’t take account into account the fact that most people are not professional Christians, most people do not have time for contemplation.

Most people are busy with kids and jobs and trying to survive.

He told a story about how a seeker came to a pastor on the fence and not sure about Jesus and of course, why would he not be cautious about a religious thing that he didn’t understand.

And the punchline of the joke was that after having dunked him once or twice in the river, he held him down for a while and then brought him up, and this was not baptism, this was just dunking him in the river and holding his head down.

He said the thing he wanted most was air, air, and the pastor told him that when you want God as much as you want air, then you will find him.

And while I understand what the pastor is saying, I would also cite Herb McCabe, for example, who says that we have already been found by God.

God has already forgiven us, we just have to turn and realize that, but that is not an act of the will, that is a mystery of our journey and everyone’s journey is different.

And so the whole feel of the sermon was if you just get your posture right, if you just get your praise right, then you’ll be able to proclaim something and we can join the party of joy and have heaven on earth.

But frankly, I think that is naive, it is simple, it is a straw man, and it is not the experience of most people.

Most people are deeply enmeshed into this world of pain, and God works with each of us in his own way, and it cannot be reduced to a alliteration. It cannot be reduced to a formula.

And to do so, to tell people if they just do this thing, as I’ve said before, if people just are told to do this thing and everything will be okay, then you are functionally preaching the gospel of Nietzsche, because the baseline of human existence is crucifixion.

The baseline of human existence is death, hell, misery, electric chairs, mental problems, physical problems, and these things cannot be wished away with three P’s, posture, praise, and proclamation.

Try telling that to someone who is mentally depressed in the hospital.

Try telling someone who is blind, someone who can’t talk, because they have a genetic condition like my daughter.

How can my daughter be proclaiming in his verbal way?

And these types of pastors always quote St. Francis or whoever, and they say, they kind of say that, yes, preaching the gospel non-verbally is great, but if you really want to follow Jesus, if you really are a Christian, you have to use words.

Well, what does it say to my daughter who can’t speak?

What does that say to her?

And so this is bourgeois Christianity.

This is Christianity of the comfortable.

Christianity of white people in a major metro area who have plenty of money.

That’s what this is for.

And even they are going to be unsettled.

Even they are going to feel guilt, because everyone’s life is hard.

And not everybody wants to praise.

And so you’re either sowing seeds of guilt or you’re sowing seeds of impossible demands, and this should be rolled up and thrown in a dumpster fire where it belongs.