Day 146d: A veritable Veteran of Virtue … (September 22, 2019)
This particular day was filled with long stretches of droning walking sprinkled with regular encounters with local religious misinformation – the former trudged onward diligently by yours truly; the latter provided freely by almost every single church I came upon along the Way. There was the Marantha Church of the Harvest that proclaimed “God’s Grace is your most valuable possession” – forgetting the fact that said Grace is actually our most potent choice, at least in those moments we choose to act with according kindness (making Salvation’s Peace something to give to another, not harbor for ourselves). And then there was the Highland Park Baptist Church that encouraged all to “Pray for America!” – forgetting the fact that any all-loving godhead would never play national favorites (a realization that had me thinking that it was high time for most Christians to pray less of the Bible’s black letters and enliven more of its red ones). Then Lenoir City’s Trinity United Methodist Church brazenly announced that they were “Disciples [of Paul] making disciples of Christ” – forgetting the fact that the fervent ramblings of Paul in the Bible have almost nothing to do with the actual Way of Christ as lived & taught by Jesus himself. And then there was the West Broadway Baptist Church noting (in black & white, no less) that “Sin is bad & Jesus is good; details inside” – forgetting the fact that Jesus was an avid opponent of church learning (preferring & encouraging active selfless communal service in its place) and that Jesus never once condemned sin itself; indeed, that the Greek word “sin” actually just means “to miss the mark” – simply means that we have, in that one moment, missed out on the opportunity to enliven our inner Soul; our truest of Selves; the Child of God we all contain within; the Child of God that simply wants us to go forth and Be Kind …
Passerby: “Are you a veteran?”
Me (in word): “No, I am a Peace Pilgrim.”
Me (in thought): “Yes, of the 2000+ year old war between the dogma of Paul and The Way of Jesus Christ.”
“I mean, what is a few billion years here and there in God’s far grander scheme? In truth, perhaps there have come and gone a dozen human civilizations over the past billion years that we know nothing about. And after the civilization we are currently living in destroys itself as well, another will start up again in a million years when the planet has all our arrogant messes all tidied up. And perhaps someday, finally, one of these future civilizations, say one that develops five billion years from now, will last & thrive in peace & harmony – simply because its people will choose to treat each other the way we ourselves ought to.” ~ via Leon Uris
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