Saturday, August 27, 2005

Y2K Revisited

I was thinking today while driving and listening to Air America (progressive talk radio) about all of the fuss about the Y2K bug. There was so much fear within the fundamentalist churches about what would happen if all the computers crashed. I remember rolling my eyes at some of the comments I heard. People I knew were stockpiling food and water and some even guns. I found it sad that there was so much fear among "bible believing Christians". These same people, full of fear are the ones who voted for Bush. Frankly I think he was the real Y2K bug.... Sadly with Mr Bush's help the people in Iraq are experiencing what so many christians feared for themselves. Of course we are the so called good guys the ones with God on our side.
Bob Dylan wrote a wonderful song many years ago that is a favorite on my ipod, the words are chilling


Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come fromIs called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.
Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries chargedThe Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.
Oh the Spanish-AmericanWar had its day
And the Civil War tooWas soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side
.Oh the First World War,
boysIt closed out its fate
The reason for fightingI never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.
When the Second World WarCame to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too

Have God on their side.
I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.
But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.
In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus ChristWas betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.
So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
The part about not counting the dead when God's on your side. Sounds familiar 42 years later.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

dragons prophecy rambling

When I was ordained in May of 2000, it was prophesied over me that I was "Dragonslayer". It was sort of like being "knighted" with the bible being used as a sword. I wondered what that meant. In the theology of the church I was in the dragon was satan. I later came across a prophetic word written by Chad Taylor, in it he wrote that the dragon was religion tradition and fear of man. Much of what Chad wrote is in "war" language with lots of charismatic buzz words, however there is some truth to what he said.

I see religion as a system a bunch of rules that lead people into bondage rather than freedom. The Pharisees were religious yet clueless missed God in Jesus.

Tradition here, doesn't mean the tradition of the early church, because I believe that the early church tradition is important, in my mind tradition is doing things a certain way because that is how we always do it. I watched the movie Babbette's Feast this week, it is the story of two sisters who continue the ministry of their father in a small town in Denmark. The do every thing the same day after day. There is no color in their lives people are bickering. One day Babette a refuge from the French revolution shows up at their door. Babbette helped them to change the way they did things. So without doing away with the rich Traditions of the church we have to be willing to move when the cloud or the pillar of fire moves.

Fear of man, I think that is something most of us struggle with. We don't want to make waves or allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to get hurt. How many times in scripture to we read "do not be afraid" one of my favorites is in the first chapter of Joshua where God tells him to have courage to be bold and strong! Why because God is with them every step of the way. The other is when the angel appears to Mary.

I had my mission I was out to help everyone else overcome this dragon. Unfortunately I forgot that I had to first deal with it in my own life. There have been many lessons for me to learn. Today, I am at a place where it is necessary for me to report a church leader for inappropriate behavior, and I am terrified. Yet I hear "fear not go and do"

I was ordained a second time in a different tradition on April 23, 2005 the feast day of Saint George the Dragonslayer" I wasn't aware of the day until the bishop pointed it out to me. I have to believe that God is in this.





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