Smiley, West, and Pfleger

It might make my mother-in-law happy, although she's never mentioned it, if I told her that I might just become a Catholic if Gary allows us to move back to Chicago and be part of St. Sabina's church. It's not a multicultural church. On their website, they claim they are an African American church. As long as they let me come to a mass once every few weeks--that's all I ask!

I listened to Smiley and West (my fave podcast) this week, and they had Father Michael Pfleger on. Boy, he got me all fired up. He reminded me of all the goodness and grace in Christianity that I had forgotten--what it means to stand up for what you believe. No matter whom you offend. He talked about how he was being trained on the west side at a church where the Black Panthers were meeting. He asked to be placed at a small African American parish and in 1981, when I was one, he was placed at St. Sabina's. He got rid of bingo and casino night, which caused his congregation to dwindle even further. Now, 30 years later, multiple attempts by the archdiocese to move him, he is still there with thousands of followers. His message is this: Be part of a dangerous religion! What happened to churches? They are not on the front line of helping people anymore. They are not dying OR living for people anymore. This causes stagnation. St. Sabina's is inTENSE. I wish I could be part of it.

He gives his opinion on a countless number of things. Visit Smiley and West if you want to hear more.

"A True Believer"

It's hard to post on this one because I feel sensitive about my old time religion. If it was good enough for grandmother, it should be good enough for me... but it just ain't.

Well, my brother sent me an article and asked what I thought. Here is my response.
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i read it quickly, but gary and i have read up on this "phenomenon" a while back, when a traditional christian writer wrote about "hipster christianity." the funny thing is, traditional evangelicals are threatened by what this writer calls "progressive evangelicals" in the same way that political conservatives are threatened by anything progressive. they think if you don't believe in one part of orthodox doctrine, the entire religion will slide down a slippery slope. even this writer writes from the perspective of a traditional evangelical. i know why... because he doesn't write from MY point of view, and i'm definitely completely over the line. i'm not a moderate or traditional evangelical. i am definitely a progressive, maybe even more left than what is described. in fact, it's amazing to me that just as i was going through my rebuffing of the old evangelical view, many young people around the US were doing the very same, via their own experiences with the traditional church. i think anyone who is associated with conservative views in the US are scary right now (in the 21st century) because they are the ones with actual power and money. church or government. maybe they have the most to lose when progressives actually start to organize and find a voice.

i've been listening to rob bell's podcast for 2 years now, and greg boyd for 4-5. i have just recently stopped listening to rob bell because i don't care for his preaching style that much, but i agree with everything he believes. greg boyd is much more stimulating to listen to, and what they preach is this:

faith is not always about feeling. it's not about how you feel, it's about how you live.

this is a scary thought. because if we REALLY consider how we live, how we treat every single person we come into contact with, how much of our money and belongings we give, how much we stand up for what we truly believe (and that's not about our beliefs about doctrines, but about how we might treat let's say, a pariah, in front of other people...), how much faith do we actually have? if we really believe that every person we encounter could be Jesus asking for a cup of water, or if we really believe that to do the will of God, we must act justly, love mercy and humbly walk with God... or if we really know what the church should be and what God intended it to be, yet we just go along with the mediocre, dogmatic, traditional religion that only works to help its own members to feel good about themselves... or maybe stop going to church and stop serving in any way... i mean, this stuff gets very very very scary. doesn't it?

what happens when we go to heaven and say, "i lived my own life, and i tried to deal with church people i don't like..." what would jesus actually say?

sometimes, i think the traditional view of christianity can pigeonhole theology into a few corners: 1, think the bible is only about yourself (the bible is written for me, to improve me, to help me, even if it's about the hittites and jebusites), and 2, i have the ability and power and insight to figure out what God meant through the canon of the bible (if jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one goes to the father except through him, then certain people must be going to hell). both ways of thinking are dangerous and pompous.

whatever we do in this life should not feel like enough, and that's what goodness is. like when schindler started to do what was right, and when he realized he could have done more, saved more Jews, he wept. that is what the church should call repentance. righteousness.