Some Folks Who Have Already Been Let Down...

My last post was filled with optimism (yes, even naive political optimism, by golly) but it's important - for better and for worse - to remember that we live in a time of extreme angst, sorrow, cynicism and darkness. People are lonely. The gap between the very poor and the very wealthy widens, and those in the middle are fewer and fewer.

I've been listening to a lot of Rufus Wainwright in the last few months, and his song Going to a Town off the Release the Stars (2007) album is beautiful, heartbreaking and fills me with the loneliness and frustration I see all around me.

I'm going to a town that has already been burned down
I'm going to a place that is already been disgraced
I'm gonna see some folks who have already been let down.
I'm so tired of America

I'm gonna make it up for all of the Sunday Times
I'm gonna make it up for all of the nursery rhymes
They never really seem to want to tell the truth
I'm so tired of you America

Making my own way home
Ain't gonna be alone
I got a life to lead America
I got a life to lead

Tell me do you really think you go to hell for having loved?
Tell me and not for thinking every thing that you've done is good
(I really need to know)
After soaking the body of Jesus Christ in blood I'm so tired of America
(I really need to know)
I may just never see you again or might as well
You took advantage of a world that loved you well
I'm going to a town that has already been burned down

Today's generations are starving for hope. I guess, so am I... yes, yes, yes: I have Jesus. I have hope. But I want to feel hope. I want to see reasons why I should. I want hope to grow, blossom and pollenate the places in me that are let down and disgraced.

Come, Holy Spirit...


please read more about my thoughts on the evolution of Christianity at http://www.emergingchristianity.blogspot.com/

Quietness...

There is a time when all of the wisdom, relevance and captivating imagery in the world has to lay down and die in patient waiting - in faith that the Holy Spirit speaks.

There are friends I can speak to again and again, months passing to years, but mine is not the voice of the Lord.

Last week I lost a friend and co-worker in a senseless car wreck. Her funeral was led by her church and family: harsh, didactic and fear driven. Her pastor and parents shared shifts, calling for converts.

"How many of you know where you'd spend eternity if you died on the freeway tonight?"

Now raise your hand and repent before the god of fear and self-preservation.

Oh that we knew how to keep our mouths shut and trust in the Lord.



please read more about my thoughts on the evolution of Christianity at http://www.emergingchristianity.blogspot.com/