american christendom ...

i may have said some of this already
it doesn't matter really
things come out as they get my attention

and this gets my goat ... sorry, my attention

i listened to one local dude
in a public spot
re-enacting his pieced-together bits of sermon-speak
and his 10 or so listeners
responding kindly to his 'touch-your-neighbor' and 'somebody say' ...
which, of course, he learned on tv
christian tv
momentarily dabbing at his brow with a handkerchief
for effect ...
for effect

it was a sad spectacle

jesus wept

my heart sank
really, it did

and then minutes later
i met a young person
and we talked briefly on church
and he commented on feeling boxed-in
and that God was boxed in
and he stopped going
and seemed to have given up looking

and i think of how we have
made mockery out of christianity

reduced it to worldly endeavours
degraded it to corporate methodology
dethroned it into pop culture
defanged it
and now it's a wounded
dark-circles-under-the-eyes
atrophied
semblance of it's former self
limping along ...
limping

and we think it's great!
this is the way it's supposed to be
this is christianity
in the intellectualized technologically-advanced 'now'
yippeeeeeeee!
..... .. .

jesus weeps

selah


it is a sad fact of life that
as the US brand of christendom goes
so does the majority of world christendom
and the more we extend communications and in-touchness in its various forms
the greater the effect

and the world is the worse off for it

america and christianity
have unfortunately been seemingly inseparably linked
in the eyes of the world

you're in Yantuk
and tbn appears on the tele
and behold! christinaity
as it is ...
as it is    
meant to be??????

no
please
i beg
i entreat you
i beseech you
no
a thousand million times
no!

that is not it
that's not christianity
please don't think that
really
i'm dead serious

helllooooooooooooo .......
can you hear me??
that is NOT christianity

selah . . .  . . .. .


it's a good thing
that God is longsuffering
veeeeeeeeeeery looooooongsuffering, ya?

imagine him
sitting there
or maybe walking around
hands entwined behind his back
looking on in wonder
scratching his head
shaking his head in disappointment
in unbelief
as his kingdom
is morphed by greedy self-indulgent leaders
and religious freaks

can you?
imagine that?

why not?
you think God can't feel?
or you doubt my take on christianity today?

as i blog
and spew forth my diatribe
i am one among many
(i'm convinced of it)
who are pushing back
shoulder locked-in against the avalanche ...
the swift and deadly downslide
of biblical knowledge
and a desire to know God
really know God
as in 'God rewards those who seek him diligently'

much of the foundation is already damaged
and there are serious cracks
running all the way up

and people are walking away
losing hope in the crumbling structure
that is christianity

and then i look over my shoulder
there
down a ways
i can see another
back up against the wall
looking my way

and look!
further on
there are others
and over there
on my left
more!
more!

ha!
wow!

there are others

we will not give in
we will not walk away
we will hold this wall
and pushback
push it waaaaayyy back

'cause there's that
and there's jesus
and we want jesus

and those backs disappearing into the distance
want so desperately
to have a real christianity
with real people
that breeds real people
in the image of a real God

and those over there
looking on
to see what's happening to this mud-splattered morass
may well be encouraged
to relook and rethink
if they see we are making headway
with the pushback

they may even
join us
put their shoulder to the wall
and pushback
too

wouldn't that be something?

so touch your neighbor
and say "look, i see jesus smiling" '

that's why i blog


shalom .. .