Category Archives: Religion

Divided We Fall

Religion,

Today, I saw a stark and somewhat frightening example of our divided country. I am no stranger to organized religion but have not been actively involved for almost 20 years. I attended a local United Methodist Church in my conservative rural community today as part of a musical commitment. Perhaps I was meant to be there as I needed to see what was happening in church on this Sunday.

I was shocked and then angered as the minister–new to the congregation but on the verge of retiring–lauded Charlie Kirk both at the beginning of the service and during his rambling sermon, a sermon that began with a reminder that the United Methodist Church is an inclusive organization. Ironically, there was no mention of Kirk’s opposition to inclusion or that Turning Point USA is linked to Christian nationalism and white supremacism, very non inclusive movements.

While I was reminding myself to breathe and trying not to mutter under my breath, I had a sickening realization that this minister, who not only followed Kirk but seemed enamored of him and his following, agreed with his beliefs. I mean, if you didn’t, wouldn’t you mention that just to make sure you were being transparent about the complexity of Kirk’s tangled theology? Many of the people in the pews, who probably hadn’t known who Kirk was, left with the notion that a faithful Christian family man was assassinated for sharing his beliefs.

There was also a very odd part of the sermon where the minister talked about how happy he was and how he just didn’t deal with drama. He didn’t ever feel sorry for himself, and he did not tolerate it in others. Since he is new, I wondered who had approached him this week with a personal concern? Don’t worry, pastor. I will not be coming to you when I have a crisis.

He also doesn’t allow the congregation to call out prayer requests as it just got ridiculous in his past congregations, and he didn’t have time for all that. Sometimes, it took 20 minutes! Oh dear, not people sharing their concerns and lives with their spiritual community?

After a primal scream in the car and a long dog walk where I did much more than mutter to myself, I checked out the recording of the service at the United Methodist church my sister attends in Annapolis, Maryland. The minister, a woman probably about the same age as my local one, did not mention Kirk at all. She talked about the challenging week and reminded the congregation that the sanctuary was available for prayer even outside office hours. They just had to give her a call.

At the beginning of her sermon, she spoke about Jesus’s love for all of us and our role in spreading that love and mercy to others. It was lovely and comforting, the way church, in my humble opinion, should be. She is planning to hold monthly healing services on Sunday evenings to help the congregation navigate these often frightening times.

These two churches are in the same denomination, supposedly sharing the same theological beliefs. Both have chosen to stay within the United Methodist church even as other congregations have disaffiliated, mostly over issues related to LGBTQ+ policies, but also because the UMC had gotten too liberal for them. Certainly, individual ministers make a difference so I am hoping more of them chose to take the nonpolitical path of love and mercy as they addressed the violence of the past week. But I worry that isn’t the case, and my experience demonstrates the great divide in which we are living, a divide that, as it is now playing out in people’s most fundamental beliefs, may be impossible to cross.

Big sigh.

I did have a little giggle as I thought about the minister’s admonition that he did not deal with drama or victims. I leave you with Sister Michael from The Derry Girls:

Hot Takes

books, Education, reading, Religion, thinking out loud, , ,

I am working on a longer post about my recent road trip read, Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule. But, I didn’t want to miss a few quick items that might be of interest.

    While there is some question as to whether the examples in Alanis Morissette’s song, Ironic?, are actually ironic, there is no question that the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Oklahoma has provided a classic example. The first act of his new Department of Religious Freedom and Patriotism is to force schools to show his prayer video to every student, teacher and parent. Most schools have refused and the Oklahoma Attorney General has said he overstepped his bounds. (His one concession was that he only encouraged, rather than required, the students to pray with him.) I hope the teachers tasked with teaching irony as part of the Oklahoma standards take note.

    Search, by Michelle Huneven, uses the story of one Unitarian Universalist congregation’s search for a minister as an exploration of the relationship between community and organization. Since the narrator is a food writer by day, the novel is full of wonderful descriptions of meals and includes recipes at the end. The book is funny, poignant and authentic, based on my own experience with the UUs, and, I should say, with other community focused organizations. Decision making becomes more challenging when it has to be made by people who supposedly share certain values and have equal say over the process and outcome. Huneven also explores the changing landscape of churches as they struggle to connect with younger people while maintaining the shared history and culture.

    Astrologers have been excited about today’s big move: Pluto, planet of death, destruction and transformation, moved from Capricorn, where it has been for 16 years, into Aquarius where it has not been for 200 years and where it will stay until 2043. Big changes are coming according to People magazine. We have to look at the abyss before we can rebuild the world. My astrologer of choice is Chani Nicholas, in case you were wondering. This, by the way, has nothing to do with the Age of Aquarius. But I’m including the song anyway for your enjoyment.

    Renegotiating the Bible

    Religion, thinking out loud

    The Southern Baptist Convention upheld its decision to expel several churches from its fellowship because they had women pastors, specifically women pastors who were preaching to men, something they believe is explicitly forbidden in the Bible. This isn’t surprising at all, really, since the SBC has historically been against diversity. They only apologized for their outspoken support of segregation in 1995.

    The Pew Research Center has some fascinating details about this church that I would encourage you to explore, including breakouts of the beliefs of the membership by gender.

    I have read and studied the Bible all my life. I used to joke that I am an evangelical’s worst nightmare: a liberal who knew her Bible. But, I quickly learned that once someone has decided that the Bible is the ineffable word of God, you can quote all you want, and they will just quote right back at you. Lately, it occured to me that the Bible and Walmart have a lot in common: there is something for everyone in both of them. And, just to be clear, we *ALL* pick and choose where to place our attention on the Bible; I’ve decided to go for the love and joy like that found in 1 Corinthians 13, the passage often read at weddings that encourages readers to pursue love before all things as it is the only thing that will last.

    Dr. Dan McClellan, a Biblical scholar, has become my go-to source for all things Biblical. He takes on the various tik-tokkers, including at least one who would prefer not to hear women preach, and calls out both their errors in translation but also their out and out lies. His main message is, as I said above, that we all “cherry pick” or, as he prefers to say, “renegotiate” the Bible for our own ideas, times, needs and culture. He is the only reason I finally gave in and made a Tik Tok account. Here is his response to one content creator who laments the lack of men in the pulpit:

    @maklelan

    #maklelan1381 Responding to @Ryan Foley (Do not harass this creator or comment on their appearance or speech)

    ♬ original sound – Dan McClellan