Seventy-two Days Does Not a Marriage Make - Tim King - God's Politics Blog

Seventy-two Days Does Not a Marriage Make - Tim King - God's Politics Blog

A Prayer from Sojourners:

Prayer of the Day: Gift of Tears

05-19-2009

May God bless us with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

Source: Four-fold Franciscan Blessing

Categories: Prayer of the Day, Verse and Voice

A Bible Verse Anyone (Christian or Not) Can Appreciate

Proverbs 18:2 (New International Version)

2 A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.

Patience

This hit the mark so directly in my life, I had to share it somewhere: A Woman's Walk - Week of May 10: "Understanding"

The Great Divorce

Just Read:The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

My sentence free summary and review: Heaven and Hell, real love, redemption, forgiveness, stubbornness, pride

My one sentence review: Lewis deftly and fascinatingly challenges the reader's preconceived notions about Heaven and Hell and creatively addresses the different ways in which people search for meaning and self-importance.

"Jesus Loved the Outcasts...He Loved the Ones the World Just Loved to Hate"

Court says private school can expel lesbians

"A private religious high school can expel students it believes are lesbians because the school isn't covered by California civil rights laws, a state appeals court has ruled."

I have no problem with the court ruling. My issues are not legal. My question, as a Christian, is for the institute: what have you accomplished?

I spent a healthy portion of my childhood in private, Christian schools in which the rules were of a much more specifically moral nature. I remember being flabbergasted when I read a rule book for the school I attended from K5 - 2nd grade, in which the punishments for wearing a skirt above mid-calf could be harsher than the punishments for stealing and where they could expel you from the school if you went to a concert of secular music (on your own time).

I am not immediately trying to address what is right or wrong, in these situations. I am simply trying to address how they are loving their neighbor by being puritanical. These two, young women might have been lesbians. If the school had a problem with the way these women were presenting themselves, I can't see how kicking them out of the school was an effective way of ministering to them.

They could argue that they were protecting the other students from being influenced by the sin of the two "transgressors," but by shielding these other students, they are making them ill-equipped to ever love the way Jesus loved: He immersed himself in the world of the corrupt. He fellowshipped with them, got to know them, welcomed them into his kingdom. He did not send them away.

Free to Censor?

Roland S. Martin recently wrote an op. ed. piece for CNN in which he chastises Lifeway Christian Bookstores for removing an edition of GospelToday magazine that featured a cover of women ministers, from its shelves because the Southern Baptist Convention, with whom Lifeway is affiliated, has officially sided with the school of thought that scriptures indicate that only men can be ordained ministers.

My main problems with Lifeway's actions are this:

1. They did not give the magazine any warning. The polite thing to do would have been to issued some sort of statement to GospelToday saying, "We are sorry but our views on women in the pulpit have led us to pull this particular edition of your magazine from our shelves, etc. etc." You get the idea. But they took the measures without warning or any contact.
2. Pulling the magazines in such a secretive way also pretty much hindered the possibility of a healthy discussion of the issue. Roland Martin puts in his 2¢ on the issue, but it is sort of awkward and ill-placed. It is not a forum for healthy discussion on the topic. And when a topic is shrouded in an unhealthy controversy such as this, healthy and educational debate becomes nearly impossible.

See Earlier for Cross Application: A Kingdom Divided

When you see in color and culture and Christianity

After reading the following article:Why many Americans prefer their Sundays segregated, I thought it appropriate to post this e-mail that I received from my father this morning:

The Average White Church:

1. Service and Sunday School are over by 10:30 a.m.
2. All cars in the parking lot are either new or three years old.
3. The Pastor delegates his preaching and does not preach every Sunday or every service.
4. When the Pastor retires, they don't have a problem retiring.
5. No one leaves the choir during the entire service.
6. There is only one choir.
7. Choir rehearsal is only once a month, not every week.
8. There is children's church every Sunday, not once every six months.
9. There are 52-inch flat screen TV's posted in the sanctuary, which is where announcements are posted and not read audibly.
10. No afternoon and night service.
11. You can't tell the pastor's car because everyone drives a nice car.
12. Women wear less jewelry because they know less means more.
13. Communion takes 30 minutes, not two hours.
14. Communion is packaged together and not served in four gold trays.
15. Babies are not passed around in church; they sit only with their parents.
16. MEN DRESS IN POLO AND DOCKERS.
17. Scriptures and bible verses are posted on the FLAT SCREENS IN THE SANCTUARY.
18. Caucasians know the difference between winter white and summer white.
19. Mothers feed their kids FRUIT, GRAINS, AND ANIMAL CRACKERS before service.
20. 80% of the congregation wears real furs in the winter and don't walk in service late to show them off.
21. IT TAKES TWO DEACONS TO COUNT $10,000+ in offering.
22. There's only one offering.
23. 95% of the congregation is married.

The Average Black Church:

1. Service starts at 11 a.m., but 50% of the members arrive at 12:45 p.m.
2. All the cars in the parking lot have been freshly washed.
3. The pastor doesn't come out until 45 minutes after service has started.
4. Only 30% of the choir is on time.
5. The choir discusses ten minutes over which song to sing.
6. The choir sings the song, but the musician doesn't know how to play it.
7. The parents whip the kids during worship.
8. The audience has to help the announcement clerk pronounce the words on the church bulletin.
9. Two of the church deacons have gold teeth or NO teeth!!!!!
10. The members socialize and speak during the tithes and offering.
11. When church is over, no one discusses the pastor's message: they just compliment each other's outfits and hair.
12. Members pay $20, but stand there waiting for $18 in change back.
13. The single women give each other signals when a handsome guest minister is invited.
14. You find notes after church that say:
    

    'That's not her hair,'
    'Who is that baby daddy?'
    'He need to sit down,'
    'What you fix for dinner?'
    'I know she ain't got that on,'
    'Let me borrow $1 for offering'

15. It takes eight deacons two hours to count $400.
16. There is a slot on the tithe envelope marked 'Building Fund.'
17. That afternoon service is either: Choir Day, Usher Day, or Men and Women's Day (don't forget Youth Day, Education Day, Pastor's Aide Day, Hospitality Day, New Member Day, Church Anniversary Day, Pastor's Anniversary Day, and Revival).
18. The Pastor's car has either a rag top or rims.
19. The women have on expensive heels, but have house shoes in their bags.
20. You see more than five people pass someone gum or a peppermint.
21. Someone will feed a baby Cheetos, sugar cookies, crackers, or vanilla wafers in the sanctuary.
22. Men will have on suits in the color of bright yellow, lime green, hot pink, sky blue, and candy apple red with shoes to match.
23. People will have a $80 Bible, but will have to look in the table of contents to find the text of the pastor's message.