Liminal Layover #02e (Madrid): Meandering into Monica in Madrid … (August 06, 2019)
Hanging out in my room all day didn’t feel anything close to Right and neither did sitting and trying to write for hours in the hotel’s downstairs lobby, so I regularly ended up strolling the neighboring streets – to see what I could see, yes, and yet also to give (the local homeless) what I had to offer (mostly vegan snacks I had been offered myself). And yet on this particular jaunt, I saw the Church of Santa Monica rise slowly before me, and true to form for this pilgrimage, chose to reverently enter the same … Inside, I became once more aware of the startling schism between what Jesus had in mind for us all and what “his” church still feels about the same; recalling as I did so turning to Proverbs 6 in Sybille’s Bible a few days beforehand, and just hours after having engaged in a lively & loving discussion with Brother Alasdair about the church’s common denouncement of all “abominations.” And so here in Madrid I sat & turned to Proverbs 6:16-19 and thought humbly about the same; wondering how a more Divine God would read their pronouncements, as opposed to the haughtily aggressive manner in which the church does the same …
“There are six things that the Lord abhors, nay seven that are an utter abomination to Him: a proud look [e.g. conservative Christians], a lying tongue [e.g. almost all politicians], hands that kill the innocent [e.g. all knowingly willing nonvegans], a mind that plots wicked plans [e.g. almost all billionaires & corporate executives], feet that hurry to do evil [e.g. all knowingly complicit soldiers], the witness who speaks falsely [e.g. almost all preachers], and the one who brings discord amongst friends [e.g. almost all attorneys].” ~ Proverbs 6:16-19 (via NRSV)
“The moment we begin to believe we have got something about God figured out with any certainty – especially if that something shows God to be cruel or callous or condemnatory – is the moment we can be sure we are no longer speaking about God.” ~ inspired by Brandan Rovertson
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