So, I rarely post anything I heard at Church, but this is worth quoting.
True story: A pastor went to a conference in the bible belt and when it was his turn to speak, he said: “40,000 people died of starvation today and you people don’t give a shit”. The conference drew in its collective breath and sat there slackjawed. He said: “I’ll say it again, 40,000 people died of starvation today and you people don’t give a shit.”. There was rumbling in the crowd, and he looked at them, and pointed out what I think is the difference between happy, pretty, right-wing, Fox-News watching “Christianity” and the kind of Christianity I want to believe in.
He said, (and I paraphrase): “Which part of that sentence really bothered you?” – because for many, it was the “curse” word, and in fact theres nothing really wrong with that word. We get so pissed off at politicians and people we work with, and that @$$hole who scratched our car. These little things that maybe, if we had a little perspective, we would brush aside, focusing our anger on real injustice or real pain, then maybe be moved to throw a couple of bucks toward folks who need it.
Whatever you believe, its a good message. Gonna go throw a couple more bucks toward Haiti, since I’m thinking about it. How bout you?
Amen
Amen! In fact, I just had a long discussion yesterday with the Music Director at a Catholic Church about how the silliness of our sensitivities when it comes to vulgarities but yet all these other sins of humanity go unhinged.