Insults

Usually when I get to work I spend the first few minutes of my day on the Internet. I check my e-mail, I look at ESPN and then I take a look at the news pages. I have a few I go through on a daily basis: CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, to name a few, (yes, I have to go through them. It's a sick compulsion). On CNN today there was an article on church closings. Some diocese are having to close some parish doors around the country in places like Ohio, New Jersey and even Boston. This makes me sad, no doubt but what really startled me were the comments that followed. There was much rejoicing at the fact that these doors are closing. One individual said that he was glad to be witnessing the "end of Christianity." Another voice chimed in and suggested that it served the Church right for having priests who "sexually abused" parishioners.

I don't know why this bothered me so much. I know there are a lot of people in the world who don't care for Christianity. I know that there are people in the world who, in fact, hate the Christian faith. But, I guess what bothered me so much was the venomous tone in which the insults were being hurled. It "serves us right" or, "that's what you get for being a hate-filled, intolerant religion." I guess I'm hurt. I know the Church has made mistakes and I know that we have done some awful things in our history, even our recent history, and that is regrettable.

Maybe the issue though is that some of these insults are based in truth. Maybe that is what hurts so much. Maybe we have blown it as the body of Christ and, instead of bringing justice and mercy to the world we have brought judgement that isn't ours to bring. Maybe instead of Grace and Peace we have brought war. Maybe instead of being the force of God's Love in this world we have been content to look like everyone else and just get by.

Maybe I need to do a better job when I get up in the morning to really give people grace and peace and not just try to make it into work so I can write a sermon about grace and peace...maybe the harsh criticism and insults that we take for what we believe could ultimately lead us to be what we are really supposed to be. Church.

Grace and Peace

The Crux of the Matter

This Sunday and next Sunday I will be leading an adult Sunday school class on the Crucifixion and what it was historically, how it worked and what it meant historically for someone to be crucified. Now that I have spent a few weeks with books and articles on the matter, I'm not sure that I want to teach it anymore. It's far more terrible that I ever thought.