Sunday, May 27, 2012

While you were preying...





Later in life I once again found myself drawn to the church. Though it wasn’t so much for the denominational theology as it was for the social intercourse.
I went to several of the institutions that had their teachings aired on the local Christian radio station—103.5 WMUZ—in Detroit. I had been listening to the station going on 3 years. It was after I found the station that I met Brett. For more on Brett and his religious influence on me see my previous post.
I eventually walked into a Presbyterian Church that was 5,000 plus faithful members. Jesus had said wherever two or more are gathered in his name, he is there. What could a gathering of 5,000 accomplish?

“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”

― Charles Bukowski


Friday, May 18, 2012

Reading between the lines of Matthew 18





My father wasn’t particularly taken by religion. For whatever reason he never made a big production out of attending church. Though he always made it a point to watch the Reverend Billy Graham. Dad would say that was the only man of God he had any respect for. May be it was the experiences Dad had growing up in Harlan, Kentucky from 1929 through the early 1940s that neutered his interest in the church. It could have been the death of his older brother in 1937. Dad wasn’t anti-church; he just wasn’t enthusiastic about it either.
Mom was more likely to encourage our religious curiosity. However, she wasn’t going to turn us completely loose when it came to independent explorations. When I asked about running off with the neighbors to church on Sunday morning, she didn’t support the idea, but she didn’t exactly forbid it—not directly anyway.
Looking back, Mom seemed a bit apprehensive about the Catholic Church. Or may be it was just the holier than thou attitude many churches seem to have. When she was taking us on Sunday morning, it was to a small Lutheran Church. A single storey building, simple glass doors like those you would find on most retail businesses, and a small podium at ground level which the pastor stood behind to deliver his sermon of the day.


“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I'm not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you've felt that way.”
― Charles Bukowski


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Who rules the world?





To say I grew up in a church would be misleading. During my early years, my parents—that is to say mom—took her five kids to the neighborhood Lutheran Church. We sat with her and Dad in the pews every Sunday. Not sure why we didn’t go to the Sunday school classes. If I recall, Mom said something about being able to sit like humans and listen to the nice man talk. That and she wanted us to pay attention.
Eventually I was noticing my friends heading to church every Sunday as well. My immediate neighborhood, that is the street I lived on, was predominately Catholic. They all went to the same church every Sunday. This may have been because it was the only Catholic Church within 15 miles of our neighborhood.
After some prodding from my friends, I asked Mom if I could go to church with my friends.


“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I'm not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you've felt that way.”
― Charles Bukowski



Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Disenfranchised from our values




I have always felt there has been a disenfranchisement between what we have been taught to believe / accept as righteous and beautiful, and that which is to be honored and valued.

This has never been more obvious than in church.


“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I'm not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you've felt that way.”

― Charles Bukowski