Dogs and God

Sometimes, animals come into shelters profoundly traumatized. They are victims of human mistreatment, or bad circumstances, or both. They have not been loved, or touched. Some animals used in labs have never been outside, or touched the grass. Fighting dogs have been pitted against each other, beaten, forced to rape or be raped, and rarely hear an unconditional word of love or acceptance. Mill animals are isolated, never interacted with and continuously bred...

So they come to the shelters--the abused, the ignored, the conditionally loved, the hurt. Dogs especially wear their emotions on their proverbial sleeves, their faces and bodies reflecting the fear they feel. Cats retreat into inaction or anger, or are over the top in their reactions, making them tough to handle.

Some, amazingly, come around quickly. They realize that their world has improved and the people in it care about them for who they are now. They respond with love, amazing their rescuers with the ability to love in spite of what has happened to them.

Others take longer. The wounds are deeper, or their intrinsic make up makes it harder for them to learn to trust humans again. They hold back, afraid that their world will revert to the darkness they had known for most of their lives.

It so reminds me of people, with their spiritual needs and wounds. We want to trust. We want to love, but we are afraid. We are afraid of the hurt that we could encounter by risking a connection. We are not trusting the intentions of those around us,. In spite of everything we know, we don't trust God and His love. We don't see God having our best in His plans, or see the love of the Cross. Our pain gets in the way.

When an animal at the shelter, after lots of unconditional attention, faithfulness to meeting needs, and just plain love, gets it, and you see the fear recede and the genuine character of the pet come forth, it always is rewarding.

It reminds this Christian of what happens to the soul that trusts and yields to God....

In It But NOT Of It

Here it is, in a nut shell, credit to John Meunier---from this article in the New York Times about gay marriage and the United Methodist Church. Check this highlighted quote:

Randall Miller, assistant professor of ethics at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, is chairman of the commission that organizes the United Methodists’ quadrennial General Conference in April, when bishops and other delegates from around the world will gather in Florida to consider proposed changes to church doctrine, including eliminating the condemnations of homosexuality.

“The United Methodist Church is a great bellwether of where opinions are going in the general society on the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inclusion,” said Mr. Miller, who will also lead the Northern California delegation to the conference. “Moving the United Methodist Church step by step, and removing these barriers, is a greater step in making the larger society more inclusive.”

Really?

A bellwether of society?

How about being in the world but not of it?

How about a living sacrifice?

How about being set apart?

If the church is just like everything else in society, what good is it?

Not very salty.

My God is NOT mushy. Neither is His doctrine. Sorry, still one of those stubborn evangelicals.

Ash Wednesday and Lent

Well today is Ash Wednesday--the beginning of Lent, the season that draws the Christian community towards Easter. I have not thought very much about sin for a while--I have been more into the acceptance and love of God. I need very little help to find myself missing the mark, although I immediately confessed to sloth on the confession sheet at church tonight.

It has been a while since I have blogged here--I am not sure why. In general I am taking less time blogging. Some of that is that old devil Facebook and some of that is just not taking time to seek out time on line (and frankly some of it is my old and busted keyboard--the lack of "h" and "g" is a real pain!). I have recommitted myself to the doctrine of getting at least one thing done every day. This means getting a better handle on sleep habits and getting up in the morning. I think that I need to be up by 0900, and if that means that I find some stupid brainless thing to do, then so be it. In addition, I now have more time commitments. Wayside, KCPP, a Monday class for two more weeks, CR.... I have thought about this and if I ever had a regular scheduled job I would have to get used to not being quite so flexible.

One thing I have been thinking about is the parallel between God's grace and what happens with some animals at Wayside Waifs and other shelters/rescues. Very often the animals are not lovable, but undergo a transformation...how does that transformation come about? I want to develop that idea at some point.

Enjoy the liturgical purple, folks!

Older

Well, I went to a funeral tonight at the church I used to attend.

Everyone was older. Really. Now how did that happen? (Insert crazed laughter here.)

It was pretty hard to tell how the church was doing from the crowd that was there since it included relations of the deceased. There were people there who wanted me back. I wondered again if that was where I was supposed to be.

In some ways I see it, but in others I don't. When you are single it is hard to fit in a small church unless you are young. I know also I would miss the richness of the worship experience that the big church gives me. Pastor Eric is an excellent preacher--sometimes I ache for people like him--people who are of obvious talent but don't seem to be rewarded for their labors.

At least on earth. After all, weren't we reminding ourselves that it is not all about what happens here?