Saturday, November 7, 2009

The ritualistic intro post

So, besides music, MamaKath's brain and heart are full of a lot of other stuff.  I thought about it and decided that these things warranted a separate blogoshere so as not to detract from my music ramblings and to provide a haven for those who were only interested in my thoughts, feelings, inspirations and affections in the political and spiritual realms.

The slogan for this blog came to me in an email discussion I had with a clergy acquaintence the other day after "Equality for Maine" was thwarted by a mere three precent of the population.  He and I agreed that the church had failed where "the church" prevailed.  The church has this book that talks about putting your neighbor above yourself and looking out for each other.  It speaks of compassion, mercy, justice and humility.  It tells you you will get your hands dirty if you're doing it right.  "The Church" on the other hand preaches a tinier and tinier, selfish, bitchy, prejudice, dictator diety that is anything close to Divine, holy, sacred or benevolent.  Their "god" doesn't like any of us and would prefer that we lock ourselves in our houses and cut ourselves off from any one that doesn't follow its doctrine. Their version "god" has rules...lots of rules about who is good enough and who you should take care of and how you can be better than all the other sheep and the diety will give you lots of money and you will live fat, dumb and happy all the days of your life.  Now in this crazy faci-verse you can play up to a better ticket to the afterlife by supporting the impersonal annihilation of other humans while providing equally impersonal "help" to unknown faces across the seas in the form of checks.  Your hands are squeaky clean with a nice thick coat of Purell on them.

But see the thing is, if you really wanna claim that you "know" Jesus...you need to go back and READ that book again.  See he said "When I was naked you clothed me.  When I was hungry you fed me.  When I was sick you took care of me and when I was in prison your visited me.  AND WHAT YOU DID FOR THE LEAST OF THESE YOU DID FOR ME".  What the guy was saying; cuz back then there were no banks, no post offices and no PayPal, was that you had to get off your fat, lazy, fearful, arrogant ass and go help people.  Don't pass off a fiver in the collection plate for some kid in Central America....go over to the Subway, buy a sandwich and bring it back to that 17-year-old runaway streetwalker you just passed while you were out shopping.  Yeah, you're gonna have to look into those sad eyes and wonder what went down in her comfortable suburban home states away from where she ended up that caused her to run.  She will give you a sad smile and say thank you.  Your heart's gonna break a little more.  For even the briefest of moments you will feel a little bit of love.  You're not going to be afraid of her any more.  You're not going to judge her in that instant.  You're gonna see her as a fellow human who maybe had a dream, maybe still has that dream but right now she's just trying to stay alive.  Trying to turn enough tricks to keep her pimp from beating her up and maybe have some place a little warmer than the street to sleep tonight.  It's probably going to get to you enough that you're going to go home and say some real prayers starting with one for forgiveness for your laziness and stupidity.  Then you're gonna pray for real help for that girl.  And you never know...The Great Spirit's reply may be that you're the help.  You're going to wake up with a need to do something.  And if you listen carefully and watch the signs...that Truly Divine Being will point you to the sources of that girl's eventual "salvation" and I'm not talking getting her to some holy roller church where some guy who plays a preacher on TV lays hands on her and the congregation of hypocrits spends the rest of her life brain-washing and laying guilt trips on her.  No I'm talking finding safe shelter, employment which provides food & clothing.  Who knows, she might get her GED and even go to college.  She may just end up the checker in your local grocery store or she may be destined to be the next Golda Meir or Madaleine Albright.  But whether "peasant" or "noble" she will live not merely survive.

Put a face on it, people. 

3 comments:

  1. Hmmm...

    I fully agree. I don't do much myself, but I don't like those churches that are all fanatical and cynical coming down with the Ten Commandments, telling me what to wear, what to eat, what to drink or I'll be damned to spend my life in Hell.

    Actually, there was a good book about it I was reading at the library, but I have to return some DVD's and pay a late fee, before I might borrow it again.

    It was by a Shane Claiborne and called "The Irrisistible Revolution". A good read. I didn't finish it, but I intend to.

    He was disenfranchised by the hype and glorification of church and found his own his calling and what he felt he was destined to do. I don't know about his personal beliefs, but I was inspired to feel the same way in my own way.

    Kinda like this here blog. It made me feel happy.

    =]

    -E

    ReplyDelete
  2. interesting read Kathy...
    Many sad truths about how our society likes to help others, but only if they can do so at a comfortable distance...
    At the same time I wouldn't paint all "churches" with the same brush...
    Agreed, there's nothing uglier than a "religious front"... it causes many to label themselves as atheist (and I don't blame them). They may have even looked for the glory of God and only found some transparent man-made BS full of judgementalism and hipocrisy.
    Nothing sadder though than a soul who decides to throw the baby (that being Jesus Christ) away with the bathwater (that being an ugly religious experience)...
    Their is a remnant out there... who love and serve as the Son did... some even willing to far beyond a sandwich... some even willing lay down their own lives for the streetwalker and perhaps some willing to do the same for the pimp as well... That remnant does so not because they're anything special in themselves, but rather because they have someone living in them that is special... give you one guess who that someone might be.
    Thanks for reading,
    T

    ReplyDelete
  3. T,

    I hope you have comments on your feed too so you'll see this. As I've said I want this blog to be more of a discussion so let's talk.

    As you saw I had church and then "church". The church in my world is the "real deal", the people who are walkin' the talk. The "church" is many different spins on somebody's "interpretation" of the word of God.

    For me, the church includes people who walk many spiritual paths. They have not cast off nor do they deny the existance of a Higher Power but they have different names for the Power, different rituals for celebrating and thanking The Power, etc. The Plain People also get cast in the catch-all category of Pagan. Most modern day revivals of these paths include a belief in a benevolent Spirit, a feeling of responsibility to fellow humans and the planet and a desire to remain in the Divine's good graces. There is also a very high tolerance of other's differences and a spirit of pacifism....peace.

    So I am one who has always agreed with Beuchner-there are those who walk through life with the mark of Christ upon them that don't even know it. They know there is a light inside and they are compelled to shine it on others to warm them, take away the darkness and cook a meal on never questioning the source of the light just thanking it for being there. And some of them are the people that will lay it all down for the runaway or the pimp or even the pimp's boss.

    ReplyDelete