That was one of the suggestions about what possessed the gentleman (she said, using the word in its loosest possible sense) to drop by for a visit this morning here at All Saints Church in Pasadena.
Actually, he showed up before the 9:00 and was still hollering about abominations and God "spewing" out the unrighteous after the 11:15 ... just checked out the window and he's still there.
Ironically, the gospel today was the one where Jesus had the "aha!" from the Syro Phoenician woman that God's kingdom was bigger than even HE thought ... and an epistle that reminded us, "You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
He didn't hear Wilma's sermon on all that, though. Too busy yelling.
Pity.
Oh well ... just another day at work in the Fields of the Lord -- though to be totally honest, some days it's harder to be a "wherever you find yourself on the journey of faith" church than others!
PS -- I did find myself wondering if the OTHER side of his sign said: "And Obama's Not An American Citizen" ... but don't really want to take the time to go check. (Wouldn't be surprised!)
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Sister Joan Chittister famously said, "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again." Reflecting on that journey -- a blog at a time -- is the focus of this site.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
8 comments:
SOME COMMENTS ABOUT COMMENTS: •Feel free to disagree, but if you disagree, give a reason. • Please stay with the thread -- the place to post long articles on other topics is your own blog. • Challenging ideas will get a conversation going; attacking individuals will get a comment deleted.•
FINALLY: If you comment, your words are yours to do with as you please, but I reserve the right to cite them in other contexts.
I just checked, the full moon was a couple nights back and it is still 95% full. I am just saying.
ReplyDeleteFWIW
jimB
I saw this guy as I walked in from the Kaiser parking lot at about 11:00. Happily, my focus changed as I encountered a dear lady who is a member of our congregation. I won’t mention her name without her permission as she may not want it spread all over the internet, but she is 105 years old, African-American, and always sits in the front row. After her caregiver got her out of the car and into her walker, I walked along side her, carrying her handbag, in case she needed help.
ReplyDeleteAs we arrived at her customary seat, a gay couple came over immediately to greet her and help her get seated. As I prepared to move her walker out of the way an usher materialized and whisked it away for me. I couldn’t help but think that when our friend was born, in 1904, less than 40 years after the end of the civil war, she would not have been welcome in a great many Episcopal churches. It also occurred to me that I have a photo of this wonderful lady with Gene Robinson – which I think was taken by Susan. A nice symmetry, I think.
Alluding to an earlier thread, we can go to war over what divides us, using the Bible as a club - or, we can focus on helping each other, loving our neighbors as ourselves.
After the service, one of our young parishioners brought the protester a cup of water.
i love love love the fact that someone from your church brought the man a cup of water. talk about loving your neighbor as yourself!
ReplyDeleteThe same guy with the same sign stood outside the Anaheim Convention Center for a day during GC2009. One of my fellow deputies left him and his two colleagues bottles of cold water with the note: "God loves everybody."
ReplyDeleteSome people have too much time on their hands. Ah, OK, I thought I had seen this man before (Anaheim). There, people danced around him with wonderful colourful flying banners.
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that people have given this man water. Might not be a bad idea to take him some water every hour or two. God loves him too even though his position makes me angry.
ReplyDeleteBesides if you give him enough water, he'll have to leave to find a restroom. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhy does his position make you angry? (A question with psychological undertones, not to be taken at face value)
ReplyDeleteDoes God truly love everybody? It seems that God's love may be more exclusive than you would have us think aleast as seen through people of faith including episcopalians. "It seems that everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others."