tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post114162230536769500..comments2023-11-05T03:30:52.349-06:00Comments on Ramblin' Educat: Something I Should Say Even Though I Have No Titleeducathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03927744738999545249noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141953884904514012006-03-09T19:24:00.000-06:002006-03-09T19:24:00.000-06:00Thanks again for comments. I am noticing from my h...Thanks again for comments. I am noticing from my hit counter that several of you have arrived here via email links and that my story is being passed around as "a real look into the mind of the unchurched!". I welcome you to my mind but in order to really understand, I need you to scroll up this page, click the banner, and visit the home page.<BR/><BR/>See, this entry by itself isn't the whole story. Please read from the home page the entry on "Where I'm Starting" and "Extending The Metaphor". You need context and the continuing story. So don't let me see hits to this page from an email message and then no other hits. <BR/><BR/>Because I'm just not that simple.educathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03927744738999545249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141941685195367922006-03-09T16:01:00.000-06:002006-03-09T16:01:00.000-06:00Sheridyn sent me here... and she was right. You su...Sheridyn sent me here... and she was right. You succinctly & carefully lay out the fears, hurts & hopes of so many folks when it comes to dealing with institutionalized church.<BR/><BR/>As a pastor, I just want to apologize for our tendency to vallue conformity over authenticity and perfect exteriors over transformed interiors.<BR/><BR/>At the same time, I encourage you not to give up on church. It's kind of like sex. (Really... not kidding. Let me explain!) <BR/><BR/>Sex was/is this incredible wonderful amazing idea in the mind/heart of God, given to us to enjoy & use & cherish. It makes a marriage more than simply a promise of respect; sex morphs marriage into an intimate alliance shot through with physical & emotional vulnerability. And we have managed to reduce it to a physical act/exchange of bodily fluids, casually used & abused & downgraded to an instinctual response used to sell hair care products & beer.<BR/><BR/>By the same token, church was/is this incredible wonderful amazing idea in the mind/heart of God, given to us to enjoy & use & cherish. It makes following God more than a personal act of will; church gives us allies/friends/compadres to explore the physical & spiritual world with... iron that sharpens iron and, at it's best, brothers & sisters who mourn with those mourn & rejoice with those who rejoice. There is a tenderness & grace & vulnerability in an authentic Biblical community that make our hearts beat quickly & our spirits soar.<BR/><BR/>And, as you so beautifully related, we have managed all too often to reduce it to an elaborate play where we all wear Greek comedy masks, reciting lines we barely believe <I>at</I> each other. No wonder it sucks people like your mother dry... church can be a people-eating monster rather than a community of Christ-followers.<BR/><BR/>Well, didn't think I'd go off quite like that when I started this response. My prayer: that your Lenten experiment helps you find a place where there are no scripts, no masks, and the Director comes complete with grace, truth, & holes in His wrists & side.Mark (aka pastor guy)https://www.blogger.com/profile/12920114022832644455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141767285516006122006-03-07T15:34:00.000-06:002006-03-07T15:34:00.000-06:00Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I've felt mo...Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I've felt more "Christ-like" after having left "organized religion" (insert melodramatic timpani beats here) than when I was there. Forging your own path is certainly lonely, whether you're single or not.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141744887440084412006-03-07T09:21:00.000-06:002006-03-07T09:21:00.000-06:00as a pastor, i have some real issues with the chur...as a pastor, i have some real issues with the church, especially when it fails to be christ-like (which is often). being with jesus, however, is always good. spend as much time in his presence as you can and church will become, if not tolerable, at least less bearable : )Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11515234122487727620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141698181962617852006-03-06T20:23:00.000-06:002006-03-06T20:23:00.000-06:00Re: Your list of reasons. I hear ya.Re: Your list of reasons. I hear ya.Jim Jannottihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11011357939370487892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141697494014061992006-03-06T20:11:00.000-06:002006-03-06T20:11:00.000-06:00Wow. I seem to have hit a nerve. I honestly have p...Wow. I seem to have hit a nerve. I honestly have put words to some of this in my head but hadn't shared it. It's gratifying to hear all of this.<BR/><BR/>I will check out the blogs of the new commenters here and decompress from my day before I speak of my chat with Jesus. Quite frankly, I have had a day that has had me calling more to the Old Testament God to rain down fire upon my mean class. Let me get some air and I shall be kind again.educathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03927744738999545249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141687029984745622006-03-06T17:17:00.000-06:002006-03-06T17:17:00.000-06:00{{{{Hug}}}}{{{{Hug}}}}The Queenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05891400997048176082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141677539604059082006-03-06T14:38:00.000-06:002006-03-06T14:38:00.000-06:00what a wonderful post.You have a nice soul.God has...what a wonderful post.<BR/>You have a nice soul.<BR/>God has something good for you<BR/>how exciting to know that!<BR/>single groups ARE creepy.<BR/><BR/>sweet potato.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141655408557441242006-03-06T08:30:00.000-06:002006-03-06T08:30:00.000-06:00What’s funny is that I have managed to grow outsid...<I>What’s funny is that I have managed to grow outside of the church.</I><BR/><BR/>I hear you.Streakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01443433745929880701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141653554340587182006-03-06T07:59:00.000-06:002006-03-06T07:59:00.000-06:00And, of course, at this hour of the morning, I can...And, of course, at this hour of the morning, I can't spell either. I am definitely not a "teaching," but a "teacher"!CaliforniaTeacherGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03765655907043136511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5916906.post-1141653482350946792006-03-06T07:58:00.000-06:002006-03-06T07:58:00.000-06:00In addition to being a teaching, I'm an ordained m...In addition to being a teaching, I'm an ordained minister--and church drives me more than slightly crazy too. Like you, I have yet to vote Republican. I'm glad you've been sitting with Jesus--the perfect democrat (small "d"). He's pretty companionably, isn't he? No pressure there, that's for sure. Do let us know, when you feel like it, what you learn from those intimate conversations.CaliforniaTeacherGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03765655907043136511noreply@blogger.com