Days of Silence, Well, Sort Of

The past couple of days have been really quirky. Thursday morning I get the girls ready, drive to the church, get out of the car only to realize that one of them had gotten something all over my pants. So, I took them to their classes and did some prep work for Sunday and then decided to go home and change. It was about 10:45 when I got home and I thought, hey, I will run a little while, start a load of laundry and then have lunch and go back to the church. Well, the power went off almost immediately after I started the laundry and did not come back on for about two hours. Worst part of it, I could not get the car out of the garage because the power was off. Some of you may say, "You do know you can open the door without the garage door opener?" And I say, of course. But we had some trouble with the door last year and I was afraid that it would not work right again so I was stuck. Finally the power did come back on and I was able to get some of the things started that I wanted to do, but my day was spent in nothingness.

Thursday night I went with several of our church staff to visit with Chris Cook, a UMC Elder, who will serve as our mentor through the ordination process. I like her and I think things will go well. My only concern is that I do not take this process too fast. I am really motivated to finish this process as soon as possible and get on to the theological schooling part. I do not really want to take any courses, but I look at it as a means to get away for a while and have some time to myself from time to time. I read a book on Christian ministry for the next meeting in a couple of weeks and I have to write an essay on why I needed to read it and what God taught me through it. That will be interesting, since I did not get much from the first go round. I think my biggest problem is I have been involved in ministry for so long, these things that "new" ministers need to consider have long ago been considered. I had to take a test on ministry skills, likes and dislikes which is meant for someone who does not know if they want to be in ministry for sure or not. I keep hearing this "One size fits all" rationale to the early stages of this process, not that anyone thinks that is the best way, but it definitely is the way of the UMC. But I believe more than ever that this is the thing I should be doing at this point in my life.

This morning, we were awakened to Madeline's panicked cries. She was throwing up. It was just 3:00. I cannot tell you how tired I am from dealing with sick children all the time. It has become a weekly issue. She really is doing better in general, and since the dog has been out of our house, her allergies have been less severe. But, this week and the week before last she spent 2 mornings throwing up her guts. This time was worse. She does not want to eat or drink anything. I just hope she does not give it me if it is contagious. So, again, I am stuck in my house with little to do. Maybe God knew I needed a break and forced me to take one these last couple of days.

One other peculiar thing that happened to me this week~I have had two people accept my invitation to join Facebook and I do not know who they are. How has this happened?

In other news~

1. Is it just me, or has the national news media finally realized that poverty and hunger are staggering right now? I have seen a couple of news reports and read an article in the New York Times about hunger and the political ramifications of allowing food prices to skyrocket. I heard that food prices in general have risen 47% over the last year and I believe it. I have noticed lately that our grocery bills are extremely high and yet we are not buying near as much as we did last year or the year before. Even our faithful green friends who only buy organic products are having to reconsider these choices because the prices are going up so much. I worry about gasoline prices and what effect this is having on every other aspect of society, especially when I routinely pay close to or more than $3.50 a gallon. And I am tired of people asking the presidential candidates what they are going to do about gas prices. Really, what can they do?

2. Is anyone else amazed that the Pope met with sex abuse victims yesterday in Washington, D. C.? I was astonished that he has finally come to terms with the gravity of the situation and is willing to start a dialogue. I don't know if anything will come from it, but sometimes it is important for the victims to know that someone hears their cry for help and justice.

3. In other religious news~I am fascinated with this polygamist sect in Texas and the fate of their children. I want to go on record by saying these people are kooks, but it looks like, on the whole they love their children. I think it is horrible how they were taken away from them. I don't think what they are doing is right, but I don't think they are in a totally abusive situation either. Why couldn't they remove the girls who were pregnant and leave the rest until something more permanent could be decided? This has all happened the same week that the New York Times announced that Oklahoma has the worst record of abuse in any state foster care system. Too many children and not enough case workers or money to help foster parents, not to mention the random abuse and neglect and all the moving around. With as much trouble as the foster care system has in general, it makes me wonder why it was necessary to take these hundreds of children away from kooky, but nurturing mothers.

4. And finally, I have been watching this HBO miniseries on John Adams that ends this Sunday evening. It has been fascinating to watch because the creators have demystified the Founders in such a way as to make them real people. It is well-documented and entertaining and has set me on this trek to know what the Founders really believed about God and the creation of the USA. Part of this interest lies in trying to understand the tenets of my former life. In the evangelical world we talk about how all of the Founders were true believers in Christ and wanted to build a religious nation, the whole "one nation under God" thing. And, for the most part I always accepted this notion. It was heartwarming and made for some great 4th of July moments. But when I really began to read what they said some things began to clang as untrue.

For instance, back in 2002 Misty and Emma and I took a spur of the moment trip to D. C. and on the way we stopped at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia to see Thomas Jefferson's estate. We enjoyed it very much and as I like to do, I bought a copy of his version of the Gospels. Of course I knew what I would find, a book with all of the miraculous things taken out of it, leaving only the sayings of Jesus. I have heard some ministers talk ill of Jefferson, but they hold all of the others in such high esteem. But the truth is most of them were Deists or Unitarians who denied the divinity of Christ. Sure they believed in God, but their God was not really the God of the Bible. They were moral, effective, and vibrant leaders with keen minds into the psyche of their times, but they were not "Christians" in the liberal or evangelical sense. Even George Washington is in this camp. True, he did attend church, but he left before Communion was served most every time, which would indicate he was never confirmed as a member.

I guess I do not understand why we have to take things and propagandize them for our own benefit. This notion of "Take back the nation for God" concerns me and would have concerned the Founders. They understood the need to separate church and state (and I know this phrase is not in the Constitution, but it was their belief) not only to keep the church free from state interference (which is the side most evangelicals harp on) but to keep the state free of church interference as well. Now, I believe every Christian should vote and demand justice in the country and in the world and take action against evil, but when religion is too embroiled in politics, it becomes less and less about faith and more and more about believers' rights.

Part of my problem is I do not like basing even part of my faith on something that is empirically untrue. When I hear Christian educators and ministers talk about the Christianity of the Founders, it sounds more to me like they are trying to appeal to the Founders as a group that all Americans admire and, since they were Christians, then evangelicals are in the right because they are in the camp of the Founders. It sounds like a subtle way to enhance the profile of evangelicals as the closest in ideals to the Founders and I think this is completely untrue.

Here is a link to another blog I like that dealt with something very similar today.

Okay, rant over. Now I have to tend to my littlest angel.