what would Jesus damand as a co-pay?

I had wanted my glorious return to semi-regular blogging to be ushered in with football predictions, but I have something else on my mind at the moment and it won't go away until I share it with a wide and largely anonymous audience. There's this little debate going on around these here United States of America where health care is concerned. I'm certainly not going to be the first person in access to the internet to weigh in on this, so there are a few things I'm going to skip over for your sake.

The misdirection, misinformation, and outright lies coming from the right, for example, are documented by my heroes over at Media Matters in a far more thorough fashion than I'd be able to muster all by my lonesome.* I'll also skip my rallying cry to do whatever it takes to get the "blue dogs" out of office via their next primaries if they don't feel like health care should be accessible to everyone. For good measure, I'll even move on past the part where I lay out the reasons that anything less than the single-payer, universal health care we're all supposed to be afraid of is a cop out.

No, what's annoying me the most in this debate is the silence. A deafening silence coming from the Church. Now, to be fair, there is some good stuff being done quietly. There's The 10:10 Challenge, for example, which I think is fantastic. However, there isn't one loud voice coming from the big, honkin', capitol "C" Church.

This wouldn't be such a big deal, but apparently the Christian faith has pockets that can get bent out of shape over the need for legislation to remove the rights of gay folks. Heck, there's even a very vocal group of Christians who scream and contort their faces in front of anyone with a camera because they hate the idea that evolution is being taught in science classes. These two issues are things that the Church is divided on, though, as we disagree over the interpretation and study of the surrounding scripture.

So certainly on this issue, where there is absolutely no reading of any scripture that would translate to Jesus being of the opinion that there are people who don't deserve access to health care, the Church should easily rise up and in one unison voice demand that health care be treated as a human right. On this issue, shouldn't the side the Church takes on this issue - and we're talking the entire Church, lunatic fringe and all - be a slam dunk? Shouldn't this be the modern Church's finest hour, where we put aside the issues that divide our faith and rally behind the teachings that tell us, unequvically, to take care of those who need it?

Apparently, the Church is afraid of what compassion would look like on our pay stubs underneath Social Security. Apparently, the Church is too busy letting Dobson scream bloody murder over fictional "death panels." Apparently the Church, after being told for so long that only one political party has any of our interests in mind and seeing that party work so hard to deny people the right to proper care, is just too confused to get together and push the government to do the right thing in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets (only probably without the pillars of fire...at least, I'd hope so).

The Church in America has its share of failings. This silence, especially relative to some of the noise parts of it have been allowed to make at other times, is probably our biggest.


*For example much of their information gathering comes from folks who, bless their hearts, can watch far more Fox News and listen to far more talk radio than I could stomach.

for the sake of clarification and directed towards someone who probably has never read anything i've posted here

You think that, based on your reading of the Bible, that God hates gay people. You also think that - and I'm assuming you somehow also have scripture to back this up - God is okay with torture.

Yeah, we can't be friends anymore. Not even on facebook.

i'm not looking forward to obsolescence

Hey, CNN has announced that America is becoming less Christian at a pretty quick rate. I mean, that's how the headline reads and everything. So what gives?

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League said he thinks a radical shift towards individualism over the last quarter-century has a lot to do it.

"The three most dreaded words are thou shalt not," he told Lou Dobbs. "Notice they are not atheists -- they are saying I don't want to be told what to do with my life."

Well, that's a simple answer. It's that pesky individualism that's got people giving faith a miss. We don't care for your rules. We're all rebels. We're all rockers.

But if you actually read the article, there's something else at play. Something that I find a little more disturbing.

The survey also found that "born-again" or "evangelical" Christianity is on the rise, while the percentage who belong to "mainline" congregations such as the Episcopal or Lutheran churches has fallen.

One in three Americans consider themselves evangelical, and the number of people associated with mega-churches has skyrocketed from less than 200,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million in the latest survey.

Right there, folks. I don't at all think it's a coincidence that as "'born-again' or 'evangelical' Christianity is on the rise," a larger number of people are being turned off by the idea of faith altogether. Really, I'm surprised that these fundamentalist, anti-intellectual, harshly judgmental, and (in the case of the mega-churches) impersonal versions of Christianity haven't chased off more people.

Especially as, more and more, this is the version of the Church most people are seeing.

i'm sure there's something in the revelation about this

Zack, my little brother, is in his second semester of Divinity School. So I'm certain that, by now, he's well trained in identifying the end times. I mean, that's got to be the very first thing they cover there. You know, just in case the signs start showing up in a time and manner that suggest you might not need to take exams seriously. All I'm saying is that if the end is near, Zack knows it.

After yesterday's NFC Championship game, I got the following text:

The Cardinals are in the Super Bowl. This is an unmistakable sign. Get your ass to church.

So, if you guys need me, I'll be getting right with Jesus. Zack thinks it's a good idea.

i promised you ideas, so here are my ideas and a disclaimer (finale)

Continuing from this entry, here's the key to making my ridiculous plan for a religious left movement work.

4) Remain distanced

We are not to be an arm of the government, and the government is not to be an arm of the Church. Those aims are neither good nor theologically sound.

Earlier, I referenced the idea that we should never be about getting "our people" in power. Instead, we should constantly be scrutinizing those who are in power and those who seek power. We should be the Old Testament prophets needling the kings into doing what is right (if we learn how to call down pillars of fire, please do so responsibly).

It is important for us to remember that Church and State need to remain separate. We don't want anyone to legislate our faith, only the values that we posses based on that faith. If we somehow find ourselves in favor of a vast majority of our lawmakers, it will still not be our job to prop those lawmakers up. Honestly, we should be putting those under even heavier scrutiny. If someone from our ranks decides to seek office? They get the heaviest possible scrutiny.

So there will be no campaign contributions. Not from us as an organization. If we, as individuals, want to give money, time, or whatever to a campaign we can go nuts. But as a group, giving money or producing a commercial is an endorsement. And we're not doing that, remember?

Disclaimer

These are just ideas. I don't know if these ideas even make sense to anyone but me. I don't know that these are even implementable ideas. Even if I was 100% solid that this would be a worthwhile endeavor that made a real difference to those who feel abandoned by the church or to actual policy, I'm not sure how I would go about executing these things.

But if you see this and think I'm onto something, we should talk.

you were promised ideas, here's the middle (part two)

Continuing from this entry, I bring you parts two and three of my four-point plan to creating an effective religious left group for all involved.

2) Get the word out...to no one in particular

So we have our values down, but we're still far from taking our list to Washington and demanding results. The next step is presenting the ideas and values we've decided we're for to the world-at-large.

If the goal is to create a place where liberal Christians can have a dialogue, then the best thing we can do is open that dialogue to as many people as possible. If the goal is to state plainly that the Church as a whole has not abandoned everyone but the fundies, crazies, and crazy fundies; then the best thing we can do is create a place where people who are struggling with what the Church has become don't feel abandoned. If the goal is to eventually affect policy in this country, then the best thing to do is build up a large number to demonstrate that we vote on our values.

No matter what we want to achieve, the best thing to do is get as many people on board as want to be on board.

3) Let them come to us

Jim Wallis is fond of pointing out in books and interviews that Martin Luther King, Jr. never endorsed a politician. He made politicians endorse his agenda. If someone with legislative clout looks at what we're doing and says "I'd better get behind that," that's fantastic.

We won't get into the habit of endorsing politicians, though. To endorse, say, a Pennsylvania Democrat because that Democrat is with us on initiatives which address poverty could very well hitch us to that Democrat's anti-choice stance that was necessary to remain politically viable in that state (or commonwealth, if you want to be accurate). There's a better than average chance that this thing we're building wouldn't want to be attached to that. If that same Democrat wanted to point to what we have to say about the treatment of those who are struggling? We couldn't stop that from happening.

There should be a very clear difference between "The Senator is with us" and "We're with the Senator." And we should always be on the correct side of that difference.

To be concluded...

i promised you ideas, so here are my ideas (part one)

The following is based on a promise I made.

I talked with members of ResCom at ACS. I read Jesus for President. I'm reading Thinking Points (one chapter at a time, because there are so many ideas per chapter that you really need to take the time to digest them before pressing on). What I keep coming to is that, in spite of what Jim Wallis says, someone needs to organize the religious left. If it were going to be me, here's what my four-point plan would look like:

1. Values, not endorsements

The Matthew 25 Network is a PAC that endorses candidates and makes radio ads in support of those candidates. I did not know this when I first heard about it. So when I went to their website - which at the time contained a place to sign up for emails, a giant endorsement for Barak Obama, and nothing more - I was deflated instantly.

It's not that I disagree with an endorsement of Barak Obama. As a matter of fact, I fully plan to vote for him in November. The problem is that I didn't yet know that this was a PAC. It was pitched to me as a place where liberal Christians could come together and share ideas. We need this more than we need a group buying radio time in a desperate attempt to counter-message the religious right's statements(if you've read any George Lakoff, you know that this is wasted effort anyway).

The other problem is that there was no statement about why The Matthew 25 Network was endorsing Barak Obama. Is it because McCain is unacceptable? Is it because they think Obama is the Jesusiest? Is it based on his stance on one single issue? Who knows? There is no values statement other than whatever you can glean from reading Matthew 25. You might think that's a no-brainer, but I've seen some wacky interpretations of that passage.

By just showing a picture of Obama with "endorsement" slapped across it, you're aligning yourself with everything about the candidate, whether you believe in every part of their platform or not.

What we need is a list of values. Just a list of the things we believe in, and why we believe them. We need this list to be created independently of political frames. No politicians. No political language. This will not always be easy. It's hard to approach an issue such as abortion without having to weed through all of the frames that have been generated by each side of the debate on this issue. I do think, though, that in this initial stage it is important to try.

By having a list of values rather than a list of politicians, we are leaving no ambiguity about what it is we stand for. By not miring it in political language, we are setting ourselves up as having an agenda larger than politics. In the end, it should never be about getting "our people" in power, just showing what we think those we trust with our votes should be made of.

To be continued...

i have ideas. i'll share them with you. eventually. (prologue)

Let me be clear. When I say that the separation of church and state is vital, I mean that government should not be legislating anyone's faith. The government should never act only at the behest of any religious group. Nor should religion ever become an arm of any government body or political party.

I do very much believe that people of faith should very much let the government hear their voices. I just spent a week at Methodist University with some of the more political United Methodist Youth we have. I listened to them as they talked about an impressive range of political issues and encouraged them to carefully and prayerfully consider what the teachings we believe in have to say about those issues. I encouraged them to give voice to their conclusions in a way that challenged whomever it was necessary to challenge.

I've recently become pretty fascinated by the idea that the Old Testament prophets were in place to show governments what was right. This is where I think people of faith need to be in the political debate.

"But Ben," I hear you saying, "isn't this what the 'religious right' thinks they're doing?" "Surely," you say, "you can't be advocating their nonsense."

You're right. I'm not. There has to be something the, for lack of a better term, "religious left" can do other than blog furiously about people who use our faith to justify all kinds of different horrible.

We should be more than against them. We should be for something. More on this when I'm well-rested and reasonably certain I'm not just rambling at five in the morning.

To be continued...

Chapter Four: Joy to the World

Each time I attended a North Carolina Conference Youth Event, I found myself with something more than just quality role models. Each time, I found myself among peers who I adored. As we grew up together, that would become more and more important.

Just after I moved to the Greater Saxapahaw, NC area, I attended my third Summer Breakaway. It constantly struck me that the Louisburg College campus felt more familiar to me than the place I was suddenly supposed to call home. I never really got all the way past that initial feeling either. My time in Alamance County mostly saw me feeling like an outsider, even in the churches I was attending.

You'd think that with Mom and Dad serving different churches I'd have been able to find some good folks to enjoy my time there with. You'd be wrong. In one church, the only other person in the UMYF that was really even close to my age abandoned the weekly meetings pretty quickly. At the other one, I felt like I was reading a different Bible than most of the people involved - and it was very clear that I'd been raised with very different values. I certainly had friends at school. Good friends. None of them were too inclined to engage in Jesus talk for too long, though. When they did, it was very rarely in a supportive fashion.

Over the years at the Conference Events, though, I'd stockpile friendly and familiar faces. If we'd gone to the same school, we would have been scattered among several cliques. When we came together as youth of faith, though, who we were the rest of the year didn't seem to matter to us.* In between the normal trouble close-knit groups of teenagers can get into, we'd spend afternoons and evenings at a time enjoying conversations about the faith we shared and what it meant to the world around us. I'd found the community I felt was so important and with each event we grew closer as a group and my faith was explored in a place where I felt no judgment. Here, my faith became more personal even as it came to me in a shared environment.

The events would end. People would hug and say their good-byes. Then we'd go to Pizza Hut. We'd hug and say our good-byes again, and that would be that. Aside from the occasional letter (or phone call if you were supremely lucky - calls meant long distance rates and Facebook was still a long way away), you'd have to wait until the next event.

In the meantime, I had to go back. Back to the normal social nonsense that comes with high school. Back to UMYF meetings that felt like I was discussing an alien religion (eventually, I'd just shut up during these meetings rather than endure some of the sideways glances I'd get...at least there were still occasional football, volleyball, or basketball games to participate in). Back to friends who didn't understand what this whole thing meant to me. Back home. Out of the bubble.

Trying to live as I did in these places never lasted long without the support those who I'd come to love so much around me for encouragement. The things I'd resolved in that company would start to crumble as I was constantly challenged from a lot of angles. I started to question whether or not my faith was actually workable outside the bubble.

Eventually, I would always come to the same conclusion. My faith was useless if it only worked in the safe places. We weren't there so we could get our Jesus in, get out, rinse, and repeat. We were there to take what we learned each time out into the world. It mattered that we did it. More importantly, it mattered how we did it.

Sometimes more damaged than other times, I always managed to come out of the challenges to who I was as a young Christian with my faith in tact. I would later learn that this had a pretty positive effect on some who witnessed it. It wasn't anything I said. It wasn't anything in particular that I did. It certainly wasn't beating anyone over the head with my beliefs. I adopted then, and still try my best to adhere to, a policy of not sharing too much without first being asked (but once you ask, all bets are off). Simply keeping the faith through sometimes punishing lines of questions (from people who I will only 11 years after the fact admit were much, much smarter than I was) is what impressed some of those same questioners into finding out more on their own.

I'm in the middle of a book called Jesus for President. Almost from the outset, this book strives to point out that Jesus' teachings were very rooted in the language, social structure, and politics of the world he lived in. To fully understand his teachings, you have to be aware of these things. He used jokes. He used puns (puns!).

People like to think that Jesus was speaking in timeless allegories that need nothing more than the book in which they've been collected to understand them. But just as I found that the Christian faith doesn't work only in the bubble, Jesus' teachings don't exist in a vacuum. While his themes and points were very much timeless, the specific words were rooted in the land where those ministries took place.

Jesus' teachings were for the people. Not the those in power in the Synagogues and not those who Rome placed in power, but the people. Jesus' church should be for the people, too.

*We'd find out in the years following high school that we'd formed what was perceived by those outside our little group as a pretty imposing and exclusive clique of our own. Yep. No one messes with the cool kids at church camp.

Jesus probably wouldn't want me to punch james dobson, but i still really want to

So Andi just forwarded this little tidbit from the AP my way. It's about a response from noted destroyer of the Christian faith James Dobson to some well-reasoned thinking out loud from Barack Obama.

"Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?" Obama said. "Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" referring to the civil rights leader.

Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy — chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

"Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said.

Yep. Pretty much. But this is old news. Stuff people like me have been saying for years to those who want to teach hatred as a Christian value because that's how they interpret certain sections of the Bible while ignoring all of the passages where, say, Jesus calls on us to help the poor. Or treat one another with kindness. Or act on our faith through the display of compassion and love. Or not calling anyone profane when God has made them clean.

All that stuff must be "fruitcake interpretations" of the Bible, just like Obama's "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution which apparently has all kinds of stuff about abortion in it, according to Dobson. And he'd be right if he weren't so very utterly wrong. Again.

But that's not even the kicker. Here's the most offensive thing he said:

"I think [Obama is] deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.

"... He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

This isn't even the pot calling the kettle black. This is the pot calling the kettle a #*@%ing pot. Dobson is the one hunting and pecking obscure passages out of their context for an agenda of hate. Dobson is the one distorting Christian values and traditions in the name of keeping women as property rather than people. Dobson is the one chasing a lot of people away from Christianity with his rejection of intellectual study and interpretation of the very book he's trying to beat us over the head with because that would challenge his worldview and his own confused theology(if you can call the nonsense that comes out of his mouth "theology.")

I'm literally ill right now. I'm so angry that my stomach has turned sideways and I might just throw up. This man has turned the Christian Faith, my faith, into a hate group and a punchline. In the meantime, not nearly enough of us are standing up to announce that this "preacher" doesn't speak for us or our faith. We have to start and start soon, because I can't take this much longer.

for the United Methodists, it's business time

Emily Farnell is pretty much one of my favorite youth ever. She's easily passed "favorite" status and moved up the All-Star status that is bestowed on only a select few of the youth I've been lucky enough to both teach and learn from over the past decade.

One of the many things that makes her so great is that, like me, she wants to see the church in general, and the United Methodist Church specifically, be everything it's supposed to be. She's at General Conference this week, and keeping a blog about her experiences there that you should consider required reading if you're at all curious about the state of the Young Church.

I'll venture a guess that, when she's done, she'll have done me proud.

Jesus is the source of my liberal bias, thanks for asking

My bus driver in Middle School was Ms Harding. There weren't a lot of us on that particular bus route due to I.E. Johnson being a magnet school and this group of riders being very far off from that section of Laurinburg. As such, we got a lot of time to talk. During one of these talks with my bus driver, I expressed my first Biblical opinion as it relates to politics.

It wasn't based on years of study. It was based on what I had been taught about God. Fortunately for me, I ended up being right because I had been taught about God by two parents who had based their teachings on years of study.

What that doesn't change, though, is that it was dangerous for me to base such a strong opinion on what someone else had told me I believe instead of my own study and experience.

I spent last week in Washington D.C. and New York City with 45 youth. While there, they attended seminars which (I hope) made them think about how our faith affects our political views. Each night, we broke down what we talked about. Each night, my shameless liberal bias went on display for my group of (possibly) impressionable teenagers.

I'm okay with that. They get the other viewpoint in their local churches plenty.

I did make sure to tell them that I'd be just as disappointed in them parroting the words I had without question as I would be if they were spitting out James Dobson's greatest hits. All I'm getting at is that your faith should inform your views, but that faith should be informed.

Chapter Three: Thanks, Heath

A few times each summer, my dad would disappear for a week at a time. My brothers and I would ask where he was, and Mom would tell us that he was at Jr. High Workshop. Or Sr. High Workshop. Or ACS. Things like that. By the time I was finally old enough to go to a Jr. High Workshop, it had been joined with Sr. High Workshop and repackaged as Summer Breakaway.

I was excited, because I was going to be rooming with a former neighbor and good friend in one of Louisburg College's pre-renovation dorms. I knew that it was a church camp, but certainly wasn't expecting a revelation about my faith. That summer, I didn't get one either. My roommate, Damon, and I made a few friends and with them we stayed up late, ate Pixie Sticks on the fire escape, made pyramids out of soda cans, and argued about which of the Sr. High girls was the hottest. These are the things I remember about my first Summer Breakaway. Nothing Jesus-y here, move along.

During that first summer, though, I did meet a guy named Heath Gilbert. Heath was one of the younger staff members and therefore automatically one of the coolest, in our estimation.

When Damon and I returned a year later for our second Summer Breakaway, we were pretty Stoked to find that Heath was the staff member in charge of my dorm group. Dorm groups are the end-of-the day meetings that serve the dual purpose of assuring someone adult that the youth they're responsible for have made it back to their assigned dorm in one piece and helping those same youth digest the day's happenings if they so need it.

I don't remember many dorm groups, but I remember this one. Heath opened our first meeting with the question "So who are the hot girls this week?" It seemed strange that we were being encouraged to have the same debate we had assumed we shouldn't have been having a year earlier. So there we were, joking and laughing. The weird thing was that, when the discussion turned to more serious topics having to do with faith, the tone in the room didn't change. Heath went out of his way to see to that.

It was the first time in my young life that I'd seen the room get Jesus-y without also having to get serious. Even my home youth group, as led by my dad, couldn't have a faith discussion without all of the air being sucked out of the room(this was most likely in spite of Dad's efforts, but who's going to tell a seventh-grader that about his father?). We could talk about things, ask questions, and get serious...and we didn't have to stop laughing for any of it.

I consider this the first great lesson about Christianity that I learned. To this day, if you ask me to name someone with a profound effect on my life(particularly if you ask in the context of my spiritual walk), I'll probably tell you about Heath Gilbert. That summer was the point where the things I believe stopped being the right answer in Sunday School and started being the things I believe. I firmly believe that Heath jump-started that for me.

The door was opened once I understood that faith could come with a sense of humor. It doesn't have to be solemn to the point that it feels like mourning. It shouldn't be treated like a burden. You're allowed to have fun. Knowing my parents, it's a lesson that I would have learned eventually anyway; but it would have taken much longer for me to accept that lesson from my parents than it was for me to accept it from a hip twenty-something.

When I go back to those events now as a staff member, I always tell myself that my goal is to be Heath Gilbert for one of those kids over the course of the week. Every now and then, I get a little confirmation from some corner of the universe that I just might have achieved that.

At every ACS, I do two "interest groups" that are mostly just an hour-and-a-half of general nonsense and fun with the youth who have dared to sign up for it. In order to justify the existence of this group, which I call "Laughing in Church," I have to Jesus up the last 5 minutes. I hit them with a line I stole from Lewis Black, "Faith without a sense of humor is the most dangerous thing in the world."

The Church is losing its sense of humor. It has no idea how ridiculous its members who demand that evolution be referred to as "The Scientific Theory of Evolution" so that the kids who have been trained to be mistrustful of science can immediately ignore that segment of class and daydream about The Rapture.

The only way I can think of to combat this is to try to be Heath Gilbert for as many youth as I possibly can.

Chapter Two: Pizza and Basketball

I was pretty excited about my first day of middle school at I. Ellis Johnson in Laurinburg, NC. Not because of the school part, but because it meant that I was finally allowed to go to youth group meetings at Caledonia UMC. I'd seen teenagers come and go from UMYF, and I knew what was waiting for me when I joined up. I'd be a part of all the in-jokes, tell the kids in the church what to do, and go on the glorious trips to ski slopes, theme parks, ACC basketball games, and the beach. All I had to do was ride over to the church with my dad on Sunday nights and eat pizza and play basketball for a few hours.

Sure, there was confirmation. A few of us gathered for those classes and learned about Weslyan Quadrilateral, circuit riders, and who the audience is during Sunday morning worship(the answer is God); but we never really came alive until the Little Caesar's was ordered and the basketball came out. This was the era in my life in which going to church stopped being a chore and started being something I did for the stuff. Still not a very spiritual center, but at least I had started looking forward to it. The problem is that my enthusiasm wasn't for a spiritual understanding my myself and my relationship with God, nor was it an excitement for the good things that the church was doing. I went to church for pizza and basketball, and didn't care if I never knew why it was important that Tradition is the first point on the Weslyan quadrilateral...I just knew that it was and that was good enough to get me a trip to Durham to be confirmed into the United Methodist Church. We probably even had pizza on the way home.

This is where I see a lot of people in the Church now. They've learned a few things and are excited about what they're doing, but still haven't put the whole picture together. More dangerously, they don't care to. I see people enthused to hit up the contemporary service so they can belt out a Michael W. Smith song with no more than 2 unique verses, no less than 8 repetitions of the chorus, and the theological depth of a t-shirt(I'm sure I'll take some time to elaborate on this idea in a future entry). They're more than willing to contribute to all the hoopla that's drummed up by those willing to take political advantage of their faith, without ever really taking some time to question the source or motivation behind that hoopla. In general, there seems to be no effort from a majority of the Church to learn anything more than what they know.

The Church is moving away from intellectual curiosity about the very things that define it. That can be exploited(by more than just people with a political agenda, by the way). That is dangerous.

I'm not at all suggesting that I've got it all together. If I did, I would be offering up solutions with these entries rather than my vague discomforts with my faith. Maybe someday, if I keep my intellectual curiosity sharp, I will be able to offer up something in the way of a solution. In the meantime? I pray for the future of the Church.

Chapter One: I am the Church, You are the Church...

The Good Shepherd Episcopal Church is located in Rocky Mount, NC. They run a pretty good preschool there, from what I can remember. The details are sketchy, but I know that they had a sidewalk that ran through their play area. I also know that in 1982, a 3-year-old boy was standing in a wagon on that sidewalk. I know that the wagon was pulled. I know that the boy wasn't expecting that at all and fell out of the wagon, crashing his head into the previously mentioned sidewalk. I know that his ears rang for at least the rest of the day. I know that, because it's my first memory. At a church, on the ground, my ears ringing, and no clue about God, Jesus, prayer, or the Church.

There just aren't too many children out there that are going to get excited about concepts like "Alpha and Omega" or even "died for my sins." They know what they're supposed to say. The answer to all questions asked in a children's Sunday School class are either 1) "Jesus" or 2) "The Bible." They know the stories that they're told. Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah's Ark, Abraham almost killing his kid, Jacob wrestling the angel, Moses & Pharaoh, Joshua & the Battle of Jericho, David & Goliath, Sampson & Delilah, Jonah & the Whale, The Birth of Christ, Jesus' parables, a few miracles, Palm Sunday, The Last Supper, The Death of Christ, The Resurrection of Christ, Saul on the Road to Damascus becoming the Apostle Paul, and they have a vague idea that they're supposed to be impressed by how young Timothy is. They don't really know what any of that means, though.

For example, there was Sammi. Sammi was in third or fourth grade(take your pick...I can't remember) when her parents allowed her to stay for Holy Communion. The bread went by and she took her piece, and I soon followed with the tray of shot glasses full of grape juice. I handed it to Sammi and said "Sammi, this is the blood of Christ..." That was all I got out before she screamed right at me, in that shrill little voice that all little girls have when they need it, "Ewww!" Sammi could rattle off the story of the Last Supper without so much as an "Um..." escaping her lips.

That's not to say that the Church is totally inaccessible to children. There are two things that I could understand and embrace as a child growing up in the Church.

1) God loves me and all God wants is that love returned.

It seemed simple enough to me. God never got fussed with me when I would play with the automatic doors at the Harris Teeter. My mom did. God never made fun of me for dropping pop flies to right field. My friends did. God never yelled at me for running the water hose and making dams in the driveway. My dad did. I didn't know exactly who or what God was, but I was glad to have God there.

2) The Church is not the building, it's the people.

I don't know why I fixated on this aspect of the Church so much as a child. I would correct people when they would refer to buildings as churches, insisting that the people who met in those buildings were the Church. I was particularly proud to be able to call myself a part of that group. My care to take this fact to heart is also part of what bothers me the most about what's happening to my faith now, but I'll get to that later.

As a child, my life revolved around the various parishes my parents were charged with ministering to. There were Cub Scout meetings, bazaars with toys and treats, plays, and songs. I loved those. There were strangers' family reunions, boring meetings where my brothers and I would have to sit outside of the church offices and be quiet, and old ladies that would scowl at us for daring to giggle in church. What was important to me, though, were those two truths that I could understand and cling to. What mattered to me was that everyone around me was in this thing called Christianity - whatever that meant - together. What mattered to me was that we were all loved by this all-seeing all-knowing mystery called God.

What I want...right now...at 28 years of age...I want to be able to feel like that again when I walk into a sanctuary on a Sunday morning. I want to feel like all that's important is God's love and the fact that the people around me are all in this thing called Christianity with me.

i've calmed down enough to try to write about this

Last week, I finally saw Jesus Camp. I'll skip the general outrage over what those people are making my faith into and get to three specific things that still stick with me.

1. When "speaking in tongues," everyone sounded more like they were speaking ComedyWorks/Sportz-styled gibberish. I don't like the idea of making fun of the way that any non-scientologist expresses his or her faith. I suppose quiet reflection and personal prayer aren't for everyone. Yet, whenever I sit in a room full of folks who prefer to express their faith in this manner, it tends to turn into a "my tongues are louder than your tongues" contest. I'm always uncomfortable when someone makes a showy prayer in any language, real or otherwise.

2. The only thing that really surprised me in this movie was how blatantly political some of the "preachers" were. I'm not talking about the crazy anti-choice guy, even. I'm talking about praying for a cardboard cutout of Bush the W(I have doubts about the same camp praying over a William Jefferson Clinton cardboard cutout that way). I'm talking about prayer for the nomination of an evil judge. I'm talking about teaching kids that the dirty liberals want to steal God from them. And I'm talking about how they don't even try to disguise how political it all is. Bad form.

3. The leader of the titular Jesus Camp, while showing all the ways in which she dumbs down the Christian Faith for her campers, basically tells us that her impression is that the young people don't want to think or read; they just want to be told what to do. And here's my main issue. She basically admits that this branch of crazy doesn't encourage any study or thought about that book that they put so much stock in. This is why they think the world is 6,000 years old and that the rapture is more than a plot device for a Kirk Cameron movie. I'd be less concerned, but the idea that people are idiots that won't respond to anything but the simplest message has slimed its way into more than just Pentecostal, Pentecostal Baptist, and Pentecostal Freewill Holiness Baptist churches. It's found its way into the United Methodist church, and that makes me very sad.

If anyone knows how I can take the direction of the church away from these people, I'd be happy to listen.

sometimes i miss spending 6 hours a day on crazy left wing radio

If you can get power through some of the bits(not all of them, some of them are genuinely amusing), then take a listen to John Fugelsang saying many of the same things I do about what the far right has done to my faith. I harp on this a lot, but it's really nice to hear it from someone else every now and again just to confirm that not everyone who holds my religious beliefs is a total evil whack job. The best moment?

I view Jesus the way I view Elvis, I love the guy but the fan clubs freak me out.

As a bonus, he even throws in a nice list that covers a lot of my reservations about Hillary Clinton. A good listen. Mostly. Skip the first quarter of this or so for the best results.

clock's ticking

In the wake of the House's failure to override Bush's stupid, evil veto I'm compelled to reprint some quotes from a previous entry by Rev. Jim Wallis(his book is fascinating) and Rev. William Barber to drive home part of the reason I find the Republicans who voted against this to be entirely reprehensible.

If you want to be protected by the right wing and you're a child, you have to stay unborn as long as possible.

There is no debate that if you read the Bible, you're supposed to care for the poor.

So now that we've established that the political right is full of douchebags who don't understand the faith they exploited to get elected, let me address the Democrats.

You're in trouble. If you'd spent more time trying to make the SCHIP expansion happen and less time pretending to be surprised that Rush Limbaugh said something stupid and offensive without thinking about it, you may have had a chance. I know, you'll say that they started it with the resolution about MoveOn.org's ad. So what? They don't control the House of the Senate. They don't have the votes to do anything but waste your time with nonsense. You're supposed to be better and you're supposed to get things done.

As of right now, your defining moments are wasting time with a pointless discussion about who hates the troops more and and a strongly worded non-binding resolution. This isn't what you were put in office to do. My advice is to stop wasting time and start getting the votes you need to do the things you have to get done.

uncle chuck

Another tale from ACS. This one comes from my time served as co-host of the talent show this year. In the midst of expressions of faith, shows of talent, and explosions of "hey, look at me!" from the ACS'ers in front of a couple hundred of their closest friends, it was my job to stand in front of the curtain and stall while setups were changed and keep the troops entertained.

I had been on a pretty good tear rotating with co-host James when I had to stall for longer than I wanted to and launched a series of clunkers that left the crowd silent. I got backstage, where Ken Hall patted me on the back and said "you cloud always tell some Chuck Norris jokes."

Those jokes' time has passed, though. However, the theme of the week had been the title of a hymn written by Methodist legend Charles Wesley, who had been called "Uncle Chuck" during worship on more than a few occasions. I had my idea, and began scribbling down some facts about Uncle Chuck Wesley. Here they are for those of you who, like newest all-star Emily Farnell, consider yourselves Methodist nerds:


"How Great Thou Art" is actually about Uncle Chuck's hobby as a sculptor.

There isn't an instrument that can measure the ratings of Wesley: Georgia Ranger.

Chuck Wesley has 1,000 tongues...and sings with all of them.

Uncle Chuck urges us to Rejoice the Lord is King. Why RE-joice? Because Uncle Chuck already joiced it.

Uncle Chuck Wesley wrote between 6,000 and 8,000 hymns, the pilot for "Two-and-a-half Men," and produced "Flavor of Love."

Methodists don't laugh, we Chuckle.

Uncle Chuck wrote half of the Methodist hymnal and the 8th Harry Potter book.

Behind 1,000 of Uncle Chuck's hymns are another 1,000 hymns.

Uncle Chuck wrote the perfect song...twice.

Chuck Wesley is so awesome that we named all of our bathrooms after his brother John.

Uncle Chuck Wesley's tears can cure Baptists...but Uncle Chuck never cries.

...and the crowd went wild.

preach

Dr. Minter and Benny T made some comments that I feel I need to comment on.

For all that it disappoints me on a seemingly daily basis, I cannot and will not give up on the church.

Every summer, I watch teenagers meet to talk about how they, as young Christians, feel about the world around them. They're at an age where their parents' views are being either accepted or rejected as their own views, and I think it's important for the ones who are shaping up to be, for lack of a better word, liberal to see examples of adults who have liberal views and a strong faith. It's important for those kids to see that I don't just reconcile my political beliefs with my faith, but that my (quite liberal) views are based on and strengthened by my faith.

If I gave up on the church, I'd be one less example of that where those examples are few and far between already.

So I cannot and will not give up on the church. I would encourage anyone who still has even a little bit of faith that hasn't been beaten out of them by James Dobson and the like to also not give up on the church. Rather, I think an effort should be made to take the church back.

There was a time when the church was the biggest voice for positive social change. It can be again. It can be. I promise. Ben. Wade. Whoever else. Don't give up. Not all the way. Not just yet. Let's see if we can do something about it.