Isle of Remote

I came across a “political” blog the other day and, like many amateur politic blogs these days, it was full of vitriolic name-calling and hostility. Add to that a liberal sprinkling of morality hoo-hah and self-righteousness and you have a really nice commentary on what is wrong with the world today.

Now I’m the last person to deny my belief in God, but my belief doesn’t rest on the basis that everyone else is wrong. This belief of mine is what resonates in the very core of my being. I can’t deny it even when I try. But beating someone over the head with it is not who I am. It’s not who God wants me to be either.

I really think those people who are name-calling from one side of their mouths and calling on the name of God from the other, need to sit back and do a little reading. Cuz frankly I’m tired of it. And God’s tired of it. It makes Him look bad. It puts Him in the political arena where He does not want to be. He is not running for office. If you believe in Him, then He is the first and last word. He is Alpha and Omega. He is the creator of the universe and every person in it.

When we force God to fit in with our own personal agenda, we put Him in a box. We limit His power and influence. God is not Democrat or Republican. He is God. So much bigger and better than we give Him credit for. Don’t use Him, respect Him and honor Him and be humble before Him.

Another Easter. Not the one I was planning, but still the celebration remains the same. Easter is always such a solemn occasion, but I think it’s one of the most festive times really, when you think about it.

At my church we have a huge celebration. Typically we have a sanctuary service that is very low key and reflective. Then we leave the sanctuary and go to another building - having some sort of symbolic representation of passing from the old life into the new. One year we wrote down something that we keep trying to hang on to rather than give up to God. Then, as we exited the sanctuary, we tossed the paper into one of several fire pits. It was pretty cool.

Speaking of fire….one year, I’m not sure if it was Easter, but we had a huge show of sorts in the church courtyard and we burned someone at the stake. No, just kidding! There was a fire eater. I’ve never been that close to someone who is eating fire. Have to say that it’s quite fascinating. I mean, you can feel heat of the fire and all.

Back to Easter. So we enter our multi-purpose building and there are no chairs set up. The band plays and we just dance for an hour. It’s like a full on concert.

Our band is Something Like Silas. If you’ve heard their cd, it’s nothing like what they are like live. It’s great, but when you’re used to hearing them every week, the cd sounds so different.

I hope you all have a Happy Easter and remember that God is present and real and BIG!

Why is it when peopled were expressing their dissatisfaction with Clinton they were exercising their freedom of speech.

But when people express their dissatisfaction with Bush they are anti-American?

I got the “if you don’t like it, leave” thing again. Am I safe in assuming that they only returned to the country four years ago? Perhaps they don’t realize they have more in common with the 17th century meanies who drove the Puritans out of England than the forefathers of this country. Perhaps they are the ones who should leave, eh?

The whole thing is reminding me of that eerie episode of the Twilight Zone where that kid would send you to the cornfields if you weren’t thinking happy thoughts.

I’m not thinking happy thoughts right now. Will I get sent to France? (crossing fingers and hoping).

The fact of the matter is this country was founded on the acceptance of differences. The Statue of Liberty doesn’t read “Give us your poor, your huddled masses only if they sign this contract and hold to the opinions we set in this here manifesto.” The preamble to the constitution doesn’t grant life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness only if you believe in the God of the Bible.

As Christians we have allowed nationalism to supplant the power of God. We have blustered in and declared our way the one true way and by golly the nation is going to run under that premise no matter who gets lost in the process. We, who were allowed to freely choose God, are trying to force everyone else to make that same choice. Why, when our salvation was a gift, do we try to make it another person’s sentence? People have to choose to accept the gift. Some people are not going to accept it. That is what free will is all about. But those who wave the flag of Christianity simultaneously with the flag of the United States are saying that God isn’t good enough on His own. It is one thing to be proud of your country, it is another thing altogether to wrap that pride up in a package deal that God never offered.

As Christians, our behavior is supposed to model God’s grace toward us. We are to be merciful because He is merciful. We are to love because He is love. We have a choice each morning when we wake up to live a life that points people toward God or away from God.

I am a registered Democrat. I am a Christian. I believe in the elemental freedoms this country stands for. I believe that Bush and his cabinet are the Sanhedrin of our times. I believe in the God of Abraham. If He told me to renounce my party affiliation, I would do so in a heartbeat, regardless of my politics. Because deep down I know that He is good and right (all the time). But the thing is that, while He has convicted my heart on many a thing, He has never done so about my vote. Why? Because I don’t think our politics play that big a role in the relationship we are to have with our Creator. Why do we insist on double-billing God along with politics?

Here’s an article my friend sent me. It really hit me.

As I Lay Crying
On feeling what no patriotic American is supposed to feel
by Dr. Teresa Whitehurst
October 1, 2004

Find this article at:
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/whitehurst.php?articleid=3682

“I was at a rap concert the other night,” said a 17-year-old neighbor last night. “And they were saying all kinds of crazy things, like ‘Bush is a baby-killer.’” He rolled his eyes and laughed.
I asked him, “Well the truth is that children and infants have been killed this very week - did you not see the photos of those kids who’ve been killed by U.S. air strikes over the last few days?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head vigorously, “that’s not true. Or if it was true, it wasn’t intentional.”
“But still they are dead, aren’t they?” I asked.
“Yes, but for a good cause - to bring democracy. But Bush certainly hasn’t killed any babies! I mean, come on!”
I asked, “Is it killing only when we do it by our own hand, or is it killing also when we order it? Is it killing when we set the forces in motion so that other people are doing the killing?”
“No, you can’t believe those things. I mean people have told me it’s just a bunch of terrorists over there causing the problem. Bush is trying to bring democracy to Iraq. People get killed - it’s just part of war. Nobody’s to blame, it’s just part of the process.”
“So if it’s an accident, it isn’t really killing?”
“It’s not the same,” he said, “as the insurgents and the way they kill. We’re just trying to kill the rebels, and we don’t target civilians. They do. Anyway, foreign forces are making most of the trouble and taking hostages, all that stuff. It’s not the Iraqis who are fighting our troops; I read it on a blog from Iraq, and I know a lot of guys in the Marines, so I know it’s true.”
I read it on a blog, so I know it’s true. The U.S. would never kill innocent people intentionally. It isn’t killing when you don’t target the civilians - it’s just a part of war. Photos of babies and children supposedly killed by allied forces should not be believed. Or, if one does believe the pictures, one must understand that somebody else killed them because the U.S. would never do that. And if it did do that, it wasn’t intentional. It was an accident. It was war. Just a part of war. We have to understand that. Nobody’s to blame. I read it on a blog.…
He is so young. Untouched, protected, “from a good family.” He prides himself on his resolve, on his confidence that every death will be worth it if we “finish what we came to do.” He is so trusting, it hurts to look at his eyes as he says these things. Perhaps I remember too much from the Vietnam days, when friends came home without limbs or in a box with a nice memorial service and salutes and honors and then nothing …nothing.
Maybe it’s my hypersensitivity, or simply the fact that I’m a woman -even worse, a mother - who can’t seem to see things objectively, or understand that some kids simply have to die that others may be liberated, or freed from the threat of terrorism, the way a man can.
Or maybe it’s Jesus whispering in my ear that’s causing all the trouble, leading to these unpleasant rumblings of conscience and pain. Doubtless I’d be far better off (not to mention more popular) listening to Rush Limbaugh or Donald Rumsfeld or Pat Robertson or George Bush or
Scott McClellan (another young untested one with trusting eyes).
A contented lack of concern about matters that are so very far away and thus should not concern me (except insofar as they keep me safe from bombings and wars) is the way I should, as a patriotic American, see things. This is what I’ve learned on every cable TV news and talk show - Have faith, war is the answer.
Even now, when I read that the U.S. and their Iraqi proxies are preparing for “decisive action” against the “insurgents,” I should not worry about the frantic families who will die in the process. More babies, children, women, the disabled, the old people, and all the peace-loving Iraqi males that we are told do not exist will perish … but I should not think of these things.
I should be more patriotic. I should clamp down on my imagination. I should not see what is about to happen, nor what has already happened, to my brothers and sisters in Iraq. I should not weep for the victims who are even now breathing, laughing, getting a midnight snack, sleeping, playing with grandma, all the while not knowing that their days - or their hours - are numbered.
As I lay crying.…
I know that I have not been “all that I can be” as an American. Even as a Christian, I am aware that I am a disappointment to those who have adjusted Christianity’s less popular elements to fit the doctrine of eternal war - war conducted by the people and for the people, killings that are done only by accident and for the very best of reasons.
Headline after headline reassures me: the U.S. military command targets only the “militants,” the “insurgents,” the “terrorists.” If anyone else dies in those bombing runs, those midnight raids, those “returns of fire,” there is no need for sorrow, nor for guilt. It was not intentional. It was blameless.
Truly, I do not doubt this. I have full confidence that civilian killings will not be intentional when the clampdown comes in October. It’s just that I wonder if not being intentional is the same thing as not being accountable. I wonder if not targeting a family is the same thing as being blameless when its members perish.
I wonder, in my moments of weakness, if a child killed by a bomb not intended for her is any less dead.
But such questions are unpatriotic, aren’t they?
Yes. These questions betray a lack of resolve, a lack of
follow-through, a lack of “doing what we came to do,” a lack of faith in war.
My grief, whenever I see the carnage that this war has left behind - car bombs, beheadings, dead toddlers with blood oozing from their
nostrils - is evidence enough that I am no longer measuring up to the new revised Christianity that has corrected Jesus’ teachings. The new Political Christianity teaches that wars and assassinations and accidental killings are to be tolerated or even admired, as long as they’re for a good cause.
You may wonder why I say all this. It is not the popular thing to say. As an evangelical Christian, I am told by the men pounding on their Bibles and pointing their fingers at their studio audiences that I should vote for Bush. Yet I see the children in my dreams, the children and all the “family values” promoted with such fervor in this country that will be washed with their blood into the Iraqi soil.
But tomorrow I will drink an extra cup of coffee and square my shoulders and try to forget that on this night I lay crying.

Church tonight put a hurting on my heart. The speaker tonight is a man who plants churches in inner cities - Watts, Newark, ghettoes and projects. It was like God speaking directly to me. I gave him my name but I didn’t know what capacity I was to help with. I feel befuddled by life lately.

I do know however that this is was a direct call. He might as well have finished each sentence with my name.

Does this mean I move to the inner city, live in the projects and teach at Christian school? I don’t know. This is a faith step. The scariest kind.

Speaking of scary, the stories he told made me want to run and hide, not run to help. Kids witnessing murders, gang rapes, abandoned children. What have I opened myself up for?

Has political orientation become our new religion? Has the Great Commission been changed over the years to spread the news of liberalism vs. conservatism to the masses?

I think not, and yet talking to some folks I would swear there is an eleventh commandment: “Thou Shalt Vote Republican.” And it is rampant through the church.

My church has, as part of its mission statement, a goal of reaching people within a 20 block radius. Surprisingly, my church is predominantly white while the neighborhood it calls home is predominantly Black, Latino and Asian. It is also, according to voter registration, predominantly Democrat. I probably wouldn’t be attending this church if I had a choice in the matter, but that’s another story for another post.

Our parking lot is filled with Bush/Cheney bumper stickers. People have absolutely no qualms about discussing why their candidate is the greatest and constantly spread gossip about the opposing party.

I get these emails from one of my Christian friends and they are always about something John Kerry is supposed to have done. For the last month I have attempted to counter them, but she doesn’t want to listen. When I tell her I can find no corroborating evidence to support the statements, she doesn’t back off but just sends me more of the same.

Case in point: I get this email about Kerry’s Vietnam service and a link to some Swift Boat Veterans site. I read it through and a couple of things strike me odd, one is that the age of the veterans who supposedly served with or under Kerry is all over the map. And they are from several branches of the military. Plain old common sense says they couldn’t have all served with Kerry, so I write her back saying I think she’s been taken. That she’s passing along gossip disguised as truth. As this is about the fourth time I’d mentioned to this particular person that just because someone sends you something via email, doesn’t mean it’s the God’s honest truth, I emailed a copy of Kerry’s service record as compared to Bush’s (from Mother Jones magazine). I get in response an explanation that she doesn’t feel that a person should be judged on what they did 30 years ago because that’s a long time and people change. She doesn’t even realize that the email she sent out was asking that we judge Kerry on what may or may not have happened 30 years ago.

The Moral Majority has succeeded in making conservatism the new religion. They have made conservative politics synonymous with Christianity. If you’re liberal, you don’t want to hear about Christ because, well, that’s Jerry Falwell territory - and gosh, do I really want to protest against the Teletubbies? If you’re middle of the road you don’t want to hear about Christ because you don’t want to be involved with any of the extremists. If you’re conservative you don’t need to hear about Christ because you are obviously already on the team, right?

I went to a Chonda Pierce concert last year and she said something extremely disparaging about Democrats during her show. All I could think was how close I had come to bringing my non-Christian friend! I wondered how many people were sitting next to their non-Christian, non-Republican friends. Friends who were thinking, “see, I knew this church thing obviously wasn’t for me!”

How humbling will it be to learn that our political agendas kept us from reaching people with the gospel message? A message that is supposed to be intensely personal and full of grace and mercy. Yet we have reduced it to an issue on proposition whatever. There are many times when I ask God why I am attending the whitest church in San Diego. There are times when I have not gone to events simply because I wasn’t in the mood to hear someone’s politics. And there are definitely times when I feel combative rather than loving simply because I constantly feel the need to defend how I feel about something. How must it feel when you’re on the outside looking in?

I think it’s great to be enthusiastic about politics and political candidates, but, as in all things, our endorsement must be of a different sort than the rest of the world’s. Nevermind that neither Presidential candidate is running a particularly Christian ad campaign right now, we can only account for ourselves. So instead of pointing out the negative aspects of the opposing candidate, point out the positive aspects of your candidate. Don’t slam other people for their point of views. And finally, if you are not sure how your words will be received, keep them to yourself.

You cannot serve two masters. You have to make a choice. Would you rather I elected your candidate as my President or your God as my King?

I really try not to talk about anything political here because those issues tend not to run to the forefront of my mind.

But the gay marriage thing has been sitting on my brain lately, and, as you know by now, when something is in my head, the only way I can exorcise it is to write about it. So I apologize that this is long and kinda “preachy.”

As a Christian woman I’m supposed to be against gay marriage. According to some “experts” allowing gay marriage will break down society as we know it and turn the country into one big rainbow-flag waving, pride parade. Businesses will fail having to provide benefits to same-sex couples, heterosexuals will become a minority and there will be 2 mommies for every Heather.

Whatever.

Our President vows to uphold the sanctity of marriage. Sanctity meaning holiness, godliness; a sacred thing (I know cuz I looked it up in Webster’s). A lofty goal, that. But sanctity is not bestowed on a marriage merely because it is heterosexual. Sanctity comes from being in God’s will. However, in modern terms, Britney Spears’ 10 minute marriage to Whatshisbucket is sanctified and my friend Tom’s Hawaiian wedding to his partner for …. yikes …. 15 years! is not.

If you’re going to “uphold the sanctity of marriage” you can’t pick and choose which marriages to uphold - you have to go for it all. No more prenups, marriages of convenience, “starter” marriages, and no second marriages, open marriages and divorce would have to be approved by the church… and there would have to be a punishment for each infraction.

Pre-marital sex? Sorry, you gotta do time for that. It’s against the sanctity of marriage. So what if it’s against popular opinion - when you claim God’s law as truth, then that’s what it is - Truth. The whole truth. Nothing but.

We cling to a political agenda because it is safe. Was Jesus liberal or conservative? Let’s see…. He went to a days long wedding feast and gave them them what? A stern lecture on revelry? Strong coffee? Uh, no - He gave them more wine. Who were his friends? Political movers and shakers? Influential bouregois with money to burn? Hmm, there was a tax collector. Couple of common fisherman. Some women (gasp!) of questionable history, thieves. Judas Iscariot was a known thief. Guess which job Christ gave him? He was in charge of all the money! Yeah, Mr Lay? Got this great job for you….Secretary of the Treasury! Jesus wasn’t liberal or conservative - He was a radical and a servant. Our political crutches separate us from God’s people - just like the Sanhedrin was separated from the miracle of the Messiah. You can’t see the miracle when you’re mired in the law.

The Barna Group did a study that showed divorce among born-again Christians and non-Christians is equal. Around 1/3 of all marriages end in divorce. So I guess that means that 1/3 of the people who are against gay marriage because it villifies the word of God cannot see the boards in their own eyes.

I do want to say that I believe that homosexuality is a sin - I can’t read the Bible and be convinced otherwise, although I would probably like to because, in my life, the gay people I’ve known have had more stable relationships than the straight people. However, I believe that we are so much in the habit of [u]ranking[/u] sin that we look at homosexuality as one of the biggies. Right next to murder. But the Canaanites were cursed to servanthood by Noah when Ham looked at his naked father when he was passed out drunk. Seems a small offense, doesn’t it? I mean, especially when compared to King David’s adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. Sin is sin - God does not have a ranking system. How can I, an expert sinner, cast stones at my brothers and sisters?

Why is it that we can look the other way at the sin of adultery (relationship outside of one [u]sanctioned[/u] by God - meaning not just marriage, but worshiping false idols) and fornication (sex without marriage) but point the finger of wrong toward homosexuality? They’re exactly the same sin.

One of my friends says it’s because the gay community revels in their sin. Obviously they’ve never seen me pass a car on the freeway…(see ya suckers!) or do the dance of joy when I buy yet another pair of shoes I don’t need (Speaking of which, I haven’t bought a pair of shoes since February….no wonder I’ve been twitchy lately…. )Ooh, and that tithe? Yeah, I’m right on with that…..(another helping of pride, greed and gluttony, anyone? ) What about people who brag about their sexual exploits or drinking habits? They’re revelling in their sins, too.

Frankly, I don’t have the time or energy to run around pointing out the sins of others - I’ve so many of my own to contend with (unless, of course, you’re wearing white after Labor Day…). Which is not to say that I cannot lovingly correct my brother or sister, but I do have to consider if I’m doing so at the expense of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus called the Holy Spirit a counselor, a helper - so how can I condemn someone when they do not have that spiritual help? And if the Spirit is workin’ what right do I have to butt in and rearrange stuff? If you choose to reject God, that can’t dampen my love for you. If you don’t want to accept God I’m not going to push Him at you like an ugly date - but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop praying for you. What I say to God is my own business - and how He chooses to work in your life is His.

If I had a five carat diamond ring, I wouldn’t just haul it at you from across a soccer field and expect you to catch it. No, I’d want to place it in your hand, making certain you knew how valuable it was, close your fingers around it and convey that it was [i]only[/i] love prompting me to give you something so precious.

There are a lot of sins I’m not going to overcome before I get to Heaven. Yet, if I’m going there, I don’t think I’ll have the right to be surprised to see some gay people there as well. Heck, they’ll probably be surprised to see me!

The ONLY thing that matters is faith expressing itself THROUGH L-O-V-E. My job is to love God’s children and let Him do the work of the Master Gardener on their hearts and minds. And that loving thing is a full-time job - when I’m doing it right, I don’t have time for judgment and namecalling.

Good gosh! I’m spent!

It’s 2:35 and since I don’t really have anything to say, I’m going to do this journal exercise from Writing the Journey

This exercise is called I Believe and is meant to “take a snapshot of your beliefs that reflect your life experience at this point.”
Who is God? What is my relationship to God? How do I know this is true?

[i](yeah, Abbie….always start with the easy bits first, eh?)[/i]

here goes….

I believe that the God of the Old Testament, the God of the Israelites is the one true God; creator of the universe and all who inhabit it. I believe that God created human in His own image.

I’m do not believe that creation took six literal days and that humankind is some 6,000 years old and the fossil remains are a little slight of hand trickery by God to keep us from knowing too much about creation. I merely believe that the 11 or so % of our brains that we do use, cannot grasp the creation of the universe, but in human terms. We tend to think we are smarter than we really are because we have discovered so many amazing things.

Who is God? It may sound cliche, but God is love. He is the Great Romantic who pursues us with unending devotion and love. In the Book of Hosea, Hosea, a prophet of God, is commanded by God to marry Gomer who is basically a prostitute (what were they thinking on The Andy Griffith Show? ). She constantly cheats on Hosea who has provided a home for her and cares for and and genuinely loves her. She runs off time and again, returning with other men’s children. Yet Hosea continues to care for her, even though he’s laughed at and considered less than a man. In ancient Israelite culture Gomer should have met with death for being unfaithful to her husband. But she didn’t because Hosea loved her - really loved her.

As for Gomer, I don’t think she was deliberately being hurtful toward Hosea. Think about it, here she was this wild woman who liked to party and was deliberately living this life that could literally get her killed, yet she kept doing it. There she is passing the pipe and getting busy with the boys when God’s very own prophet shows up saying he’s going to marry her, that God commanded he do so. Now, if I were Gomer I’d be thinking Hosea was looking for a little Jimmy Swaggert action, if you know what I mean…. he just thinks we should be “married” first. Fine. I’d go along for kicks and giggles thinking there’d be some money at the end of the night. The marriage ceremony seems real….hmmm. Then he moves me into his home, says everything he has is now mine. Looks like a sweet set up, I’ll take advantage while I can - never thinking he’s at all serious. Then he starts expecting me to show up at his business events - I’m out and taking a few bits and bobs to compensate for my time.

So there it is, a dysfunctional relationship because we refuse to accept all the grace and love and honor God wants to bestow on us. We expect Him to trick us, or make us adhere to a rigid set of rules and walk around all dour-faced talking about sin and the wages of all the time. Often we form our opinions of God from our negative reactions to humans. God is not human, God is perfect. Before you discount Him, learn about Him and what He wants to give you.

We often get hung up about a good God sending people to Hell. It’s not that simple. We send ourselves there, by not believing in Him. Why would we want to go to God’s Heaven if we didn’t believe in Him with our whole hearts? It would be like going to a party at the house of someone you couldn’t stand. Unfortunately, in the eternity of things, there are only two events: The one in Heaven or the one in Hell - there is no abstention.

I believe God is wild. He is the rollercoaster, the perfect lover, the bad boy and the angel all rolled into one. he constantly amazes me with how much he cares for the little details in my life. I don’t live a perfect life by any stretch of the imagination, but I do live a joy-full one. I don’t understand things like war or hatred or crime, but that doesn’t diminish my belief in God. Heck, I don’t understand how my computer works….doesn’t stop me from using it.

Well that’s all for today. That’s what I believe about God. There’s a whole list of questions to go through on this topic, from what I believe about the role of books to my relationship with my body. Take a look at the site - it’s really good. I’m thinking the next exercise I do will be “unsent letters” - gotta get those Daddy issues out once and for all!

I should be filling in the details of my meeting with MOMD. Truly there’s not much to tell - the meeting was brief and among a crowd, so we’ll have to wait and see if anything comes of it.

What is really on my mind today is how God answers prayer. I had prayed a really simple prayer for a friend who is in what could be a harmful relationship. If it was not in God’s plan for her life, I prayed that it would so readily apparent to her very quickly. Today I found out that she has seen the warning signs and knows she has to break up with him. Three weeks in and she knows this is a dead end. Her heart is not invested and she is nervous about doing it, but she knows it’s the right thing.

Thank you God for answering small, simple prayers. It reinforces that you are in control and you have a plan for my life as well.

So….MOMD. Yes. Met him. Gorgeous. Nice. Met Mom too. He’s either not very talkative or uncomfortable in crowds. Anyway, I was my usual scintillating, charming self and I did catch him watching me a couple of times, but there were other things to attend to and it was not a situation where we could conceivably talk one-on-one. But I figure he knows how to get in touch with me, and the ball is officially in his court now. I also let the powers that be know that I was not adverse to making another trip. We’ll see, won’t we?

So here I sit all primped and powdered, curled and twirled ready to make the trek to meet MOMD. It is what it is, what happens, happens.

I’ve got good friends praying for me and if it’s meant to be, God will make it happen despite myself.

So I leave you with a bit of Psalm 30 (The Message translation):

You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance;
You ripped off my black morning band and decked me with wildflowers.
I’m about to burst with song;
I can’t keep quiet about you.
God, my God,
I can’t thank you enough.

I’ll be back tomorrow morn!