The Noise of Politics poem by Walter Brueggemann
warning to Christians and people in ministry – The Long Haul
Critique of American Culture (as portrayed by the media)
Recovery sucks part 1 ! It has been awhile since I’ve posted. I haven’t posted in quite some time but believe me this was not intended. Mentally, it has been a grueling process of slowly getting back into the swing of things.
Here’s how it all started. Around December, I learned about a wonderful exercise program called crossfit. Even though I couldn’t perform the workouts as recommended, I was immediately hooked. Before crossfit my exercise program was a beginner strength training program, which was my first exploration into lifting weights. Crossfit has it all metabolic conditioning, strength training, and more. I’ve seen remarkable changes in my physique. I’ve gone from a 36 inch waist to a 32, dropped 30 pounds, increased endurance, and feel great. Now, once you drink the cool-aid you begin to go whole hog with the program. After three months, I started the Zone diet. After six months, I started experimenting with IM Fasting and an added strength training. This was in addition to Wednesday and Friday Wallyball games. I should have known better or at least checked my workout journal more closely. Honestly, I was wanting results far quicker than my body could provide thus two months ago I came down with a mild case of Rhabdo.
It began with a crossfit workout of deadlifts, rowing, and kettle bell swings while extremely dehydrated (hindsight and blood work) then at lunch played wallyball and followed that up with some deep squats and shoulder presses. One hour after the workout my muscles started locking up and shutting down and then the rest is history. Snails travel at light speed compared to how slow I was moving. Recovery consisted of medical help, lots of fluids, and sleep. I’ve never slept more in my life. I hate sleeping!! After taking a month off, I started to get sick all over again. At first I chalked it up to the rhabdo but this time with migraines. That would have been ok for me but it started to affect my whole persona. I was confused, which frustrated me and then got me irritated which would make me more frustrated and confused. Soo back to the doctor for more tests.
I’ll post the rest of the story tomorrow.
peace and biscuits,
rev. slick
I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I ran across some articles of the mega-church Willow Creek welcoming LGBT community to church. My top picks are two articles from the Chicago Tribune : Gay Christians meet the Rev. Bill and Willow Creek Welcomes Gay Advocates and a blog post from Celebrating Diversity called Willow Creek Soulforce and Me.
One of my pet-peeves is how some Christians can treat other people. The last time I read the parable of the good Samaritan and countless other teachings of Jesus, we are supposed to treat everyone with love regardless! We’ve politicized things in society to such an extent that many good (for the most part) and faithful Christians can’t ask the question how to treat a person as Christ would; they automatically treat them the way they’ve been programmed. I live in the the Bible-belt and have heard countless preachers that are homophobic and spout hate. It is not enough for them to say, “hate the sin love the sinner” they actually give license to abuse. I’d love to say this doesn’t go on in the denomination to which I belong, but our General Conference recently met and we actually had people voting against a resolution to oppose homophobia. Let me get this right. It is good to fear homosexuals? Get real. The Christian response, outside of our relationship with God, is that there is nothing and I do mean NOTHING we should fear!
There is a strange truth of homosexuality in the Bible-belt, which I’ve experienced. In every congreagtion that I’ve served, there has been at least one homosexual who is a member of that church. About 75% of the congregations know who they are no matter how much they try to hide it. The interesting thing is that they are accepting of them;however, all other homosexuals (those they don’t know) are NOT accepted at all. This has always baffled the hell out of me. The hidden truth is that they say we accept the ones we know but not the ones we don’t. Go figure. Xenophbia grows and xenophilia withers.
The bottom line of hope for me is that churches are now starting to view their role to invite all people regardless and that is good news and a change of pace.
peace and biscuits,
Rev. Slick
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