embrace of the cross ..

when the day comes that i meet the Lord Christ
i will be utterly naked
like he was
   on that cross

whatever i used to cover my self will lie shredded at my feet
   the makeup, hat, sunglasses
   education, religion, colour, class, wealth, decency ..
denuded
bare bones
soul all exposed
heart expertly scalpeled, its black cancer running free

there is no defense
no plea
no legal argument, justification, rationalization

just the accumulated thoughts and intentions, the piled-up words and deeds
the person i became with each added second ..

just me
and him

selah ... .. . .  .    ..

`|`

that's a sobering thought
if you believe in life past death
in God
..

i don't want anyone to see me

i'm dirty to the core of me ..
   filthy ..
thief
liar
murderer
adulterer
selfish
arrogant
hateful
addicted
harboring grudging revenge
wicked

i have shattered every law of God
made a mockery of morality
not an ounce of worthy in that skeletized me

..

nothing to bring
nothing to offer

`|`

and then

he will embrace me

like he did on his cross

just so

no worded interlude
no reminders
no humiliating looks
or pointed finger
no blame

simply embracing love
..

because
he knows
he's been there ..
absolutely

he became the scapegoat of atonement
but more
for he became
our sin
my
sin

" God made him to be our sin - he who did not sin - so that we might be made righteous before God " (2Cor 5:21)

the Lord Christ
thief
liar
murderer
adulterer
selfish
arrogant
hateful
addicted
harboring grudging revenge
wicked
.. ..    .       ..       .

he became my sin

and bore them away
in his body
into the Wilderness of Noreturn

Isaiah 53 ..
we despised him for that
we thought God was judging him for his own sin
and we turned away ..
but it was for our transgressions, our iniquities, our rebellion ..
mine
mine
..
that lamb of God

`|`

the embrace of the deathcross
becomes the embrace of Life

astounding
unthinkable
incomprehensible
it cannot be explained
   only accepted
   a gift with no explanation
   unfiltered grace

selah . .    .      ..

`|`

if then Jesus did that for me
   in my addiction
   in my drunkenness
   in my madness ..

did he for the addict ?
the drunk  ?
the glaringly hateful   ?

selah .. . . . .     .

`|`

somehow
somehow
we the church have to find a way to include 'them'
those leasts noone wants included ..
it may not be in our usual way of inclusion - the majority of us can't handle the assault on our decency

but there may be some of us
willing
by God's grace
to be assaulted
by them
for them
for Jesus

..


may the grace of the Lord Christ Jesus, and the love of God, and the embrace of the holy Spirit be with you

the pope spoke for christianity today ..

in the aftermath of the pope's address to congress . . .
oboy ..
sadly i happened to pause for as long as i could bear it, like 3 minutes, on a televised 'christian' broadcast last night
oboy ..
and heard a panel of leaders in the evangelical movement enumerating the heresies of the roman catholic church
oboy . ..
and i thought ' how convenient .. ' ..
  'cause like the evangelical church is failing in its influence in the public sphere
    in matter like caring for the poor
      defending the abused
      sharing our wealth (even in the Godblessed US there is a hugely massive gap between rich and rest
      rescuing the perishing
      caring for God's planet Earth, which was the very first charge to the very first humans
.. things like that
and so these here folks defend the other side of the christian world = evangelical by throwing rocks as the very person who used an amazing opportunity to speak truth to the world

followed by the internet postings that warn us of the pope's leadership in bringing in the OneWorld religion and hastening the End Times and the dreaded Tribulation ..

tell me, truth is truth ain't it ??
regardless of the source, truth is truth

and you'll find in the comments attached to the link below (to the pope's address to the UN) similar derogatory comments wrapped in rocks and thrown heartily by other minds boxed in caskets ..

them be the fundamentalist conservative christians of our day

me ..? i run from these folk
run like hell
can't handle them anymore
.. i wuz one for a long time

meanwhile the heretic head of the dread RC church, with which i do have serious theological differences, by the way, bears remarkable testimony to the God of all

following up on that speech, the gentleman offered an even more direct and detailed encouragement to world leaders, some of whom have never been there, others not for many years, at the UN today

i have made comments that i support the public worldview of this particular pope
how could i do otherwise ?

how could ANY christian despise his encouragement to life, to the wellbeing of the planet, to the rescue of the poor, to the disarmament of nations and doing away with war, to the economic and ideological abuse of societies not like ours, to the respect for all people everywhere, to peace
??

ahmmmmm .. doesn't that sound like Jesus .. kinda .. like ?

truth will always be truth ..

here's the link
peace to you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJXnTb47GEc

lament ..

a word we may be unfamiliar with ..

- sorrow
- mourn
- grief
- moan, groan
- wailing
- a dirge, song of grief
- loss

perhaps we get the idea ..

`|`

perhaps in our americanised christianity we shy from it
perhaps there's some unbalance, too much stress placed on 'positive', happy, joyful, claiming the wealth and prosperity and freedom from disease and deprivation and poverty ..
like we live in some glass bubble blown by the Divine where it's always sunny and everyone sings happysongs on full bellies and sleep in comfy beds
a la Joels and Meyers's ..

those of us who don't live in this bubble just don't get it ..  .
we have a faith problem or the devil's got us under his/her thumb ..

`|`

there's a bit of scripture that looms large ..
it goes like
  blessed are those whose spirits are beaten-down, reaching out
  blessed are those in mourning
  blessed are the meekened, the humbled
  blessed are they whose bellies grumble for righteousness and justice
    those who show mercy
    those with pure hearts
      who work for peace
      who are persecuted for doing the right thing

these are the opening words of that famous sermon on the mount, a long and oft-quoted passage early-on in Jesus' ministry
this particular section, dubbed ' the be-attitudes ', preached from every pulpit that ever hosted an audience ..

poor
mourning
humbled
hungry

somehow those experiencing such things are blessed by Jesus ..
' for they will .. '
.. at some point, eventually
their cries will return mercy and peace, full bellies; they will see God ..
they will, in fact, be blessed
for
their impoverished spirit
humbled state
mournful wails

..

for some reason, Jesus didn't berate them for their attitude, or admonish them to repent and grab a smiley .. " you're ruining everything ! "
.. he blessed them

`|`

it can't be like it's a good thing to suffer .. .
but
suffering can be a 'good' thing
it can serve to remind us of our mortality
that we live in a fractured and limping world where things aren't the way they were designed to be ..
things are wrong, bent, ugly
a muddied image of the intention of Creator

suffering is an all-too-present reality

..

america is the riches nation ever
yet a majority of the population is below or pert-near the poverty level ..
one misstep and .. job gone, house gone, health, insurance ..

elsewhere in the larger world out there
billions of people hunger and thirst, daily, bare necessities a fleeting dream ..
and millions run
leaving homeland in a desperate dash for safety from war, or for a chance for their children to find peace, an education, a life
in hope

`|`

lament

those people Jesus portrayed are in lamentable situations
some are lamenting their situations
some the situations of others

the cruel turn of soul that cries out in pain for the deprived, the run-down, the suffering, the nagging hurt, the loss, the destruction, the seeming never-endness of all that fear and hopelessness ..
even to the next generation, and the next, their children and their children's children ..

..

lament
" o God ! how long?! "

apostle paul speaks of rejoicing with them that rejoice
and in the next breath
mourning with them that mourn

it's a sharing, a com-passion, an internalizing of the other's stuff

..

lament
for the worldview that commands the upper rooms, white privilege jealously on guard, locked and loaded, looking down from their high ground on the valleys below, blackened and browned and yellowed and reded by the under-privileged in their left-over life ..

lament
for the newworld economic shame of the richest nation ever, where the Almighty $ walls the vaults of the 5%, the rest walled-off in the largest class spread since the feudal days we thought were happily buried in the books and bones of museums ..

lament
for the great democracy that now elects as leaders the well-funded, purchased by the monied few ..
' by the people for the people ' now a sick joke hanging framed on the walls of congress ..

lament
.. what else, when leaders in the christian church deny God by their works, abusing children, stealing from God's people, preaching foolishness for the gospel, when they should be preaching the gospel that is foolishness ..

lament
for the tired, burned-out, denuded planet Earth on which we live and move and be ..
most can't drink the poisoned water or eat the poisoned fish or the GMO'ed grain or the drugged poultry; the very air we breathe is often so filthy we can hardly see ..

lament
for mayhem
murder in the name of war in the name of religion
  or in the name of money
for manipulation
sexual immorality
parents who ruin their children by their awful attitudes, sick relationships

lament
for the wickedness in me
for the cruel uncaring thoughtlessness that allows me to walk by
for the twisted thinking that awards me first place
for the scarred conscience that ignores the pain in another
for the damned arrogance that allows me to point-out this and that sin while i wallow in my own brand of dirty

lament

face the cruelty, the damage, the wickedness, the arrogance and selfishness
own it

weep

mourn
sackcloth and ashes
face in the dirt
in the face of the utterly disappointing humanity we are

lament

there's a place for it
a time for it

balance demands it

love and compassion and caring demand it

Jesus demands it

lament

onward, a way . . ..

         clarify
simplify
      balance
    centre
             harmony

one recipe for shalom ..

..

clarify is the onset, marking what matters
   and what doesn't

simplify is followup
   transport the unnecessary to the dump
      make plans to procure the missing matters stuff

balance pursues just the right place and weight of what's left, the matters
   some matters matter more

centre .. the pendulum is at rest
harmony

..

these aren't clearly defined steps
there are greyed lines
overlaps
backtracking
finding new paths .. again
.. all the parts in a fluid interplay
      as you try over and over to perfect the unperfectible you
         by allowing Godspirit to touch each part, gently refining all the while as you yield the pieces of the parts to Spirittouch

you yourself are interplay, flowing this way and that as the Spirit leads your spirit
in a neverending movement
   like an unfinishable musical score
      the playout of which leads to other movements, fresh interludes, morphing themes


life
flowing free
synched Spirit to spirit
   harmony
headed Godinward
welcomingly embraced in the trinuneself
   almost as if you are triuneself

..

think unity, oneness with God
like Jesus said in John 17 ..

think theosis ..
welcome to the Godhead

A good read ..

http://www.redletterchristians.org/all-lives-dont-matter/

decency and the homeless ..

2 men sit behind a bush outside the church on the side with no walkways
methinks they came for lunch
they obviously didn't attend the service ..

the only way to get into the lunchroom is through the church
if you try to enter from the external doorway you are refused
even if you attended church that morning ..
you must enter in at the strait gate ..

will they get lunch?

..

i'm not trying to set this up ..

i don't know if they enter the church, service over, and try to access the lunchroom if they'll get in ..
i hope they will

`|`

somethings been dogging my mind the last week
chasing me every time i allow my self to be still ..
can't shake it off
like a bad smell everywhere i go
   maybe that's why i'm so hesitant ..
   maybe the smell is me

i've attempted to write it down, more than once, in my journal
i've faced that smell before
and while others seem to be ok with it, or at least let it pass, it assaults me ..
a furrowed questioning pallor darkens my aura
..

i understand fully the threats to a well-ordered activity, like lunch, where homeless are invited ..
anyone who has any experience with homeless folk know there are a ton of issues facing these people, and those things pile-up in each life, to one degree or another, often manifesting in extremes -
highly sensitive and emotional to perceived threats (and 'threats' us 'normal' people would readily dismiss)
and sounds too, like someone tapping a beat on the table
loudity - these folk live outdoors for the most part
contrarily, shutting-out everyone else, eating silently
sudden outbursts for no apparent reason ..
and on and on ..
there's no end to the outplay of emotions and quirky mannerisms consequent to extended life on the street ..

i get it ..

and i get the threat to the 'normal' among us whoo simply want to be part of a 'normal' society, driving normal cars and eating normal food and doing normal things, like scurrying off to catch the patriots/bills game ..
don't need smelly dirty grumpy threats-to-my-safety people around me .. just need to live my normal life thank you

and, too, i get the heart of the churches that extend themselves beyond the normal lines and welcome the homeless into 'church' and offer them meals ..
some go much further and provide services, like medical and counselling and job placement and temporary housing and AA and NA and group discussions for those who want help .. mostly help out of homelessness

that is wonderful, and christian communities that take this on deserve much accolade and encouragement and support

`|`

during my all-too-brief experience with homelessness i had the opportunity to experience them - their ways, their concerns, their fears, their mentality and worldview, their poverty, their continually having to be helped and served and the diminution in self-worth that travels with that ..

and that was a west coast experience, quite different from a south experience - much more liberal and loud and in-your-face and obviously unnormal and don't-give-a-shit ..

i'm not any expert at all - far far from
but something manifested in me as i walked through that experience ..

everyone needs welcome
everyone

there were very few things i drew the line on - violence, aggression, using, theft ..
aside from that everyone was welcome
   even the ones the homeless themselves marginalized
      and, yes, there are classes among homeless people
i didn't care
as long as you didn't cross one of those lines while you were here, you were welcome

some did cross a line, and they were banned, either for a time or permanently, depending ..

..

when drifting homeless came to the town i was in and were looking for a place to be accepted, the word they got on the street became " check _______ "
.. us

they came barefooted
they came nasty
they came smelly
they came after longtime drunkenness
they came left-over high
they came obviously high
they came beaten
they came bruised, wornout, bandaided, scruffy, in dire need of a shower a shave a change a manicure
they came with baby
..

bob'd sit there rocking backandforth on his way down from his recent meth dive
richard recovering from his drinkbinge of the last 3 days, still mumbling and talking to himself ..
and the chick that, during a conversation, told me she had 60 children .. serious as a judge ..
..

i know a little about these people
far too little

so ..
where am i headed here ?

..

there are the naaysayers that want to shut out all the refugees because there may be Islamic threats among them
..

i'm thinking ..

seems to me the only people Jesus shut-out were
   the
religious
   the
too rich
..

still thinking ..
Mr Pharisee Nicodemus had a bit of a time with him
but he eventually apparently had a change of heart

herod

seems everyone i can think of ( like simon (?) who invited Jesus to lunch and then he and his buddies got all turned-around when that wicked loose woman washed Jesus feet with her tears ) fall dead centre into those cat's ..

demonic
paupers
lepers
blind
beggars
rich
poor
leaders
foreigners
oppressors ( romans )
samaritans ( outliers )
hungry
sick
maimed
..
ya, there weren't any drunks mentioned ( although he made wine for a wedding, late on, when people had already had their reasonable share and couldn't tell much of a difference in the quality of the wine any more )
nor drugged

but addicted ?
o ya, dude
i mean what do you call it when you're too rich to give away everything to the poor and follow Jesus .. to follow Jesus ..
and the gluttonous ..
'course we don't have these problems among the 'normals' in our church
and the pornicious
and the well-disguised alcoholics

and
the men that rape their wives
and the ones that cheat on business trips and golf weekends
and lie on their tax returns
and ..

but wait !!

those people aren't threats to my safety !
they don't smell bad or wear dirty clothes or cuss or shout-out or beg on the street or carry knives ..

ya

you're right

`|`

sometimes the greatest threat to us is ourself
and our eenyteenyitsybitsy views of the world
   and of what Jesus lived
      and said
our penchant for safety that drives us to 'carry'
   in church
our proclivity for lines and categories
'normal'

`|`

news ..
these people are not normal
they have been marginalized maligned spit-on beaten-down and beaten raped pushed further and farther out fed the scraps from our table

they are anything but normal

but in a world where we cause significant ruckus over diminishing tree populations and butterflies and bees and turtles and rhinos and whales and ..
   ( which are all just and justifiable issues )
how come ..
we can't find room for the un-normal human ?

isn't there room for the not-run-of-the-mill homeless among us ?

the least of the least of these ..

i've seen homeless ministries shut-down because of it

sad, that

sad

..

yes, they're not ready to change ..
   yet ..

they're stuck in their addiction
in their mentalillness
in their severe depression
in their tryingtogetpastthelastbeating
   or rape
in their all-too-stressed-out survive-mode
trying to think of why they shouldn't simply end-it-all, take the leap of faith and jump, finally, from that bridge
   where they've stood a hundred times before and dared themselves to jump
      jump! damn you!

while allthewhile we look to accommodate the ' decent ' ones among them
make them like us, socially acceptable

and leave the unhandleable ones out there
on the fringe
locked-out
can't come in for a meal
no clothes for you ..
you don't stack-up to the church's better-than-society's standards for homeless help

somehow
we have to find a way to help those offscouring of the homeless
the bottom-feeders
the ones even the homeless despise

the least of the least of these

somehow ..

and i don't have to be able to solve their addiction
or be equipped ..

i just have to have a hand to reach out
a smile to give
a heart that sees human in need
a willingness to have my sense of decency 'abused'
for the love of God
for the image of God in them

..

i don't get to judge or rank or draw lines


i understand they are not normal

but neither am i
   in God's intention for humanity
and neither are you

ya, we fit-in here
but how would we feel if we got shutout of the Kingdom because we're not normal in the Kingdom ..

and Jesus gave his sovereignty and his supremity and his godhood and his living life and his dying death
for me

just like he did for them
the least of the least of these

i can see it no other way ..
in my naivete

fingernail photos and running like hell ..

i saw the moon today
a fingernail sketch

it was like every other moon i've ever seen
and yet not

i reminded my self to look
paused

i even took a photo
like i'd never seen the moon before ..

but this wasn't just any moon ..
it was today's moon
the now-moon

the moon is there today

i'm not sure it'll be there tomorrow
figured i'd better see it while it's still there

i'm not sure i'll be here tomorrow
figured i'd better see it while i'm still here

..

i saw the setting sun today
a glimpse over running water
oranging the clouds

i'm not sure it'll be there tomorrow
figured i'd better see it while it's still there

i'm not sure i'll be here tomorrow
figured i'd better see it while i'm still here

..

.

a refugee died today
in  the back of a truck
smothered by a thousand other refugees
buffeted by a rabid sea
on a lonely railroad track
in Nomans Land
running like hell from Inhuman
clutching a small photo in her cold wet stiff fingers
" freedom " scrawled in ink on her forearm
    maybe a plea to God

..

.

where is God ?
?

..

was that God's fingernail ?
was that Your orange breath ?

how come i get to see fingernail moons and orange cloudskies
    if i should die before i wake ..
and she's dead
today
no sketchy moon
no setting sun
just the darkness of a thousand smothered runners on a rabid railway buffeted by a lonely Nomans Land in the back of a truck clutching a thousand small photos yelling " FREEDOM!! "
   maybe a plea to You
..

while i sip tepid cofffee typing on my computer

..
.

where are You
.. .. .     . ..      .     ...       .       ..             .      .

the Son of Human ..

the words that follow are not mine, so don't shoot the messenger ..

The quotation is taken from Frederic Godet's commentary on John at John 1:14

"The proposition, 'the Word became flesh', can only, as it seems to me, signify one thing, viz. that the divine subject entered into the human mode of being at the cost of renouncing His divine mode of being.
The personal subject remained the same, but He exchanged the divine state for the human state;

and if at a later time He recovers His divine state, it is not by abandoning the human - he has too seriously appropriated it to himself - but by exalting the latter to the height of the former.

The contents of the proposition of John are not, therefore, two opposite states coexisting in the same subject, but a single subject passing from one mode of being to another,

which he will gradually transform so as to render it in the end capable of possessing all the attributes of the former."


and i concur
so so very glad i found someone in the same lonely boat


"One of the most influential and widely-cited conservative scholars from nineteenth-century Europe, Frédéric Louis Godet contributed enormously to New Testament scholarship and the debate over biblical inspiration. As the author of more than a dozen New Testament commentaries and an expert on the life of Paul and the Pauline epistles, Godet is rightfully remembered as one of the most influential conservative voices in European biblical scholarship."

my naive friend and me ..

have this friend
the quintessential naive, i suppose ..

some folk are simply 'ignorant' of this or that
but my friend .. well, they know, in a head way
but simply apparently refuse to accept
they just apparentlly pretend that life ain't as rawly so as it apparently is

that naivete leads to repeat
repeat hurt in them

dumb ..

`|`

so that when this good ol' USofA runs to battle over 'human rights' and lives are the fallout
yet those rights turn out to be the rights to oil or some other dollared state interests in truth ..
and then barely postures when hundreds of thousands run and swim and walk and play animal, trying to find life, trying to save the threatened lives of their o-so-young children ..
..
that's befuddling head-scratching stuff

or like when 'good' people find their religion stands foreboding before them, like some massive giant, arms crossed, forbidding this or that .. like crossing the 'D' line, while their spouse drills holes in their soul, watching themselves leak-out in bloody trails all through their torturechamber home
..
like .. i don't get it

like .... grrrrrrrrrrrr .. preachers with slick slimy tongues coaxing spare $ from the feeble hands of hurting looking-for-hope people, to plant seeds in their personal well-watered gardens
possibly the greatest wicked of all evils

damned naive friend of mine !
..
they assume people can't be that corrupt, that wicked
while all the while bleeding samples lie scattered on the floor of the living room
where they walk
every day
and night
  sometimes more night than day

`|`

my friend has this memory chamber
it's where they store strongboxes, each secured by stronglocks
they have keys
  locked in a strongbox with a stronglock

sometimes they allow themselves to go there
let the keys out
open a box
.. look in

moreoftenthannot they'll soon slam it shut
violently
command the lock to lock
  the key to return to its place
again

i don't know how those boxes got there
why the keys have a life of their own ..

some say my friend has a 'bad memory', but it isn't bad as in dysfunctional so much ..
it's 'bad' because of those damned strongboxes and living keys ..
sometimes apparently it's a lifetool, a survival mechanism, a move-on strategic employ that allows them to take another step, get up another day
in hope

somehow, with all that naivete
those boxes
all those bleeding examples
all that hurt in them
  lying in wait for them to notice again
.. they take another step

`|`

it's that naivete apparently that permits them life
allows them to feel again, afresh
      ` the hopelessness written all over that homeless face
      ` the agony of that stumbling mother clinging desperately to that child as if it was her very own life on the railroad track headed to Whoknowswhere .. leading away .. to ..
      ` the confusion of that little life as the one they trust fondles their soul
      ` the dreadful fear of the youth recognizing they're not 'normal' .. ironically they're sadly gay
      ` the inexplicable penchant of the abused to bear the blame that belongs to the abuser, cutting their wrist with both edges of the same blade
      ` the life-draining realization that the very place you invested your faith .. bared your soul .. stretched upward for God
turns out to be a prison, a dark lonely place where your spirit lies curled-up in the corner,
fed weeviled scraps of 'truth', the stank walls decorated with years of nail-etchings,
long deep descending scores
artfully mocking the god in you
.. nobody deserves that kind of art on their wall

`|`

people
humans
deserve life
we are designed for life, to live
palatable pungent life - vibrant, ecstatic-at-times, energetic, dancing-on-tiptoe, peaceful, nirvanic, fillfulled, colourful, thrilled by every flash of wing, each flutter, the soft rush of the clear blue dashing over the rocks headed to Whoknowshere ..

life
wrapped cherishly in the very life of the divine
spreading out
reaching up
gazing into the beautiful inviting unknown
  'up there'
  inside
where my divine dwells
in longing hope

every single human deserves life
each one
bar not one

`|`
so, ya ..
naivete is part of who my friend is
the part that grabs a clean brush every day, mixes a fresh palette of colour, and looks at the blank canvas in ponder ..

who can i paint today ..

.. i can live with that kinda naivete

is Your arm shortened .. ?

why won't You answer him?
why?!

he's hiding in closets
suffering panic attacks
scoring his soul with the broken glass from his bubble
bleeding out

and he's crying out
to You
to You ..
isn't that what he should be doing ??

why don't You answer?

please answer..

his life lies scattered across the living room and outside the broken window in the wet grass, all rained-on and muddy

won't You tell him something?
something ..
anything
just so he knows You are there

this brazen separation between You and him, hard impenetrable roof that nothing gets through ..
drill a hole
i beg You
let some grace-rain drip through onto his muddled, confused, can't-understand, depressed head ..
even a little
just a little

please..
i beg You
on his behalf

this is life and death here
this is real stuff..
it's killing him..

he wants You

please save him ..

he so wants to be saved

Pope leads the way ..

Today I messaged a religious leader this ..
" Tell me something .. Where is the church in the issue with the thousands running from Syria and isis? I haven't heard a word .. We should be on the frontline. "

Imagine .. it took the enemy-leader of the protestant evangelicals to show the world the way of Jesus ..
shame on you

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/09/06/3699093/pope-francis-welcome-refugees/

change, or die in your sin ..

someone is being born
right now
   while someone dies
somebody got a job, and another lost their's
'just married!' ..
   .. "i'm getting a divorce .."
thousands of refugees finally reach germany ..
   " more refugees die at sea on their way to 'freedom' "
" i will not issue a marriage license! it's against God's law! " .. /
   "welcome to Mercy"

`|`

yesterday i read a blog post explaining why kim davis is not a hypocrite
here http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frenchrevolution/2015/09/03/three-reasons-not-to-call-kentucky-clerk-kim-davis-a-hypocrite/

i thought on shutting my tongue, again ..
fail
i posted this comment . .
" You're right .. Hypocrisy isn't the issue.
The issue is poor theology, a misunderstanding of who Jesus is and what he's about, and misrepresenting God to everyone out there.
And the fault probably lies in where she got her teaching. There is a serious dearth of genuine Christian doctrine and teaching in this country, and the people that reap the reward for that are my neighbor and God.
Sad, that. Tragic. "

and got back .. " If you believe the Bible teachers it's okay for two men or two women to marry I wish I could be standing beside you when you meet God because that is going to be interesting. "

i'm seriously considering whether to respond to that response to my response .. this could go on for ever ..
regardless, i'll be sure to ask Jesus when i see him

`|`

a preacher sang a message today .. it was all about hindering God
or not

coincidentally the tune re-sounded to the blog post ..
what on earth do we do with LGBT as christians
and the poor
and the immigrant
  illegal too
and the blacks 'n mexicans 'n jews 'n american indian - them ferners
the homeless
the addicted
the mentally sick
..
like, all those people that live out there, outside our garden walls
slummin' it

them that ain't like us
..

the text was Acts 11, a rehash of Peter's interview with God when he was told not to profane things God had made holy
which is really strange
because all along the Jewish deal was no-no to unclean animals and people ('gentiles'-so-called) and stuff like that, and circumcision as a mark in the flesh (of the male) (of all things) .. .
and then God just flips everything and calls him in for a training session, a visual, by the way, and knocks peter and the Jews' particularity clean off the pedestal

what's with that ?!

i mean .. i thought ..
i read the older testament
i know what it says
i lived in the lineage of my fathers for a thousand years

how can you just diss' all that .. God .. ?
.. ahem .. pardon me ..
..

the cut-off of that story is this: the up-to-then-jewish church recognized that peter's vision and experience with the roman, cornelius, was valid (since they too received the holy Spirit) .. those horrid gentiles were now 'in' .. they get a free pass, just like 'us'

wild stuff
absolutely life-shattering

`|`

" who was i to hinder God? "
those were peter's words to the First Christian Church of Jerusalem ..
like, i just shut my mouth, pretended like i understood what God was tellin' me, and went to visit cornelius .. period !

..

thing is, it was always God's plan to be the god of all people
period

and the old way is out
it was nailed to a cross outside the camp, dripping in blood

the pharisees' way was kaput
done
new wine
so let's grab some new wineskins


truth be told, it never was about davis and her religious rights
it was about love

besides confusing her 'faith' with her responsibility to the state, for which she should have resigned her position, she tried to force that faith-position of hers on everyone else ..
which nah wuk ..
been tried a million times, by the likes of Mr Calvin to boot, and failed every single time, bar none

love
cannot be forced ..
we should get that already

..

so while the french connection blogger person waits for God's response to my heresy, i think i'll go this route ..
you need to love the Lord your God with your heart mind soul body - everything you got ..
and then love your neighbour like if your neighbour was you
.. 'cause on those 2 things the entire law and the prophets and the writings hang
nailed
soaked in blood
not the substitute blood of animals
the blood of a human, sufficient for all people everywhere whenever
of whatever colour stripe religion nationality sexuality class occupation dwelling .. or not
.. all the world

'cause i'm going to follow that man
the perfected revelation of God

..

hence the division
the lines in the sand

i been there - protestant evangelical conservative fundamentalist

i been converted, that you very much

welcome to mercy
God-style

peace to you
and grace
through Jesus, my Lord

the one thing..

You are my one thing

i cannot live apart from You

You hold my life in Your hand..

i put it there 

everything else is rubbish 

tossable 

if I lose You my heart goes 

explodes, a million pieces 

blood everywhere

I am undone without You

 

life can take whatever it wants 

have it all 

i care 

but i don't care 

You are the one thing 

everything 

i have You 

or I die

simple 

i will not let You go 

i will not 

You are everything ..

my one thing