Marz - Love is Real

 

Contrasting ideas of who Jesus is and what our response to Him should be

 

SERMON: "Are You Saved?" ~ Rev. Beth Dana of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas

Do you dread people asking if you're saved as much as I do? I have always liked the answer "I have been, I am being, and by God's grace I will be saved." Still, that's a mouthful and some folks will take it the wrong way. This minister gives us one position from a Unitarian and a Universalist perspective. I've posted other perspectives here.    

 

From The Methodist Federation for Social Action Statement on the Delay of General Conference

This is an excerpt from a statement from the Methodist Federation for Social Action regarding the delay of the United Methodist General conference. Please connect directly with MFSA here.

Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) commends the Commission on General Conference for their decision to prioritize equity in the difficult decision to delay the General Conference until 2024. We acknowledge the wisdom of the commission during these turbulent times and wholly support this decision.

While the decision to delay is the best option at this time, it continues the United Methodist Church's (UMC) harm and discrimination of our LGBTQ+ siblings. The continued delay of the General Conference compounds our fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and frustration. These are all valid and natural responses, and we feel them too. We mourn, we weep, and are outraged by the perpetuation of oppression by our beloved church. We are uncertain about the future, but we are still responsible for our actions and inaction. God has dropped a plumbline in the midst of our church. We have not been centered in justice.

We do not have to wait for the General Conference or a legislative change to give us permission to seek justice. We do not have to wait for someone else with more power or authority to give us the go ahead. We can boldly work for justice even if it means we break a few unjust rules because this is what loving God and our neighbor looks like.

We call on the Council of Bishops to continue to hold in abeyance all complaints against LGBTQ+ clergy and complaints against clergy presiding over Christian marriage with LGBTQ+ couples.

Your path, passion and purpose in life...

 

Michael Miano interview by Jonathan Buttry regarding testimony, ministry, leadership, and more...

I am not in full agreement with the Holston Primitive Baptist Universalist Church or with Michel Miano, but I do plan to post from them frequently because I believe that their work fits into the purposes of this blog. I imagine that many of us will see ourselves in Michael Miano's story and that many working-class people will be uplifted by the central messages of the Holston Primitive Baptist Universalist Church.

   

“They said that if I questioned..."

“They said that if I questioned a 6,000-year-old earth, I would question whether other parts of Scripture should be read scientifically and historically.
They were right. I did.

They said that if I entertained the hope that those without access to the gospel might still be loved and saved by God, I would fall prey to the dangerous idea that God loves everyone, that there is nothing God won’t do to reconcile all things to Himself.
They were right. I have.

They said that if I looked for Jesus beyond the party line, I could end up voting for liberals.
They were right. I do (sometimes).

They said that if I listened to my gay and lesbian neighbors, if I made room for them in my church and in my life, I could let grace get out of hand.
They were right. It has.

They told me that this slippery slope would lead me away from God, that it would bring a swift end to my faith journey, that I’d be lost forever.
But with that one, they were wrong.

Yes, the slippery slope brought doubts. Yes, the slippery slope brought change. Yes, the slippery slope brought danger and risk and unknowns. I am indeed more exposed to the elements out here, and at times it is hard to find my footing.

But when I decided I wanted to follow Jesus as myself, with both my head and heart intact, the slippery slope was the only place I could find him, the only place I could engage my faith honestly.
So down I went.

It was easier before, when the path was wide and straight.

But, truth be told, I was faking it. I was pretending that things that didn’t make sense made sense, that things that didn’t feel right felt right. To others, I appeared confident and in control, but faith felt as far away as friend who has grown distant and cold.

Now, every day is a risk.
Now, I have no choice but to cling to faith and hope and love for dear life.
Now, I have to keep a very close eye on Jesus, as he leads me through deep valleys and precarious peaks.

But the view is better, and, for the first time in a long time, I am fully engaged in my faith.

I am alive.
I am dependent.
I am following Jesus as me—heart and head intact.
And they were right. All it took was a question or two to bring me here.”

- Rachel Held Evans
(June 8, 1981 - May 4, 2019)
[Credit: Adam Twining/Tom Cantwell]
Shared from Sad Jesus

Include the animals....

 

From the Holston Primitive Baptist Universalists

 

What is Primitive Baptist Universalism?

I don't agree with everything that the good folks at the Holston Primitive Baptist Universalist meeting say, but I think that their universalism takes a load from our shoulders and is scripturally-based. You can follow them on Facebook and Youtube and form your on opinions.

People who are interested in some of the history of the Primitive Baptist Universalists should read Howard Dorgan's In The Hands Of A Happy God (The University of Tennessee Press/Knoxville, 1997). I think that it's helpful to think about three things as you study this. One is imagining what life would be like if we had been taught about a happy God when we were children. The second is thinking about how not believing in an eternal hell where bad people are tortured for their sins forever might fit into your belief system and how that might affect everything else. Being a "no-heller" (an objectionable phrase!) doesn't so much solve problems as it does raise more good questions. The third thing to think about is whether or not not you believe that you have to earn justification and salvation or learn how to accept them as gifts. 

This is a good and warm introduction to some of where they're coming from.

 

Seeking God in The New Year---One of the Pressley Girls gives some good advice

Catch more from them here.
 

Mike Dobrejak Goes To Church

It was a cool, echoing church at night, with more empty pews than full ones, lamplight gleaming on varnished wood, giggles in the choir, the stained glass windows, no longer translucent, shutting out the darkness. At high mass God was the thundering, awe-inspiring Lord of the Universe in vestments of white and gold, but at evening service He was a friend whom one dropped in to visit, God still but God at ease, His shoes and trousers showing below his robes. It was to this God that Mike prayed for Mary, for the children, for himself. About hell's fires and heaven's harps he had opinions of his own, but that God would look after a man who worked hard, took care of his family and always did his best---this could not be doubted. So mike prayed, and God listened. To One more powerful than steel Corporations and General Superintendents Mike spoke in prayer and was sure of a hearing, for in this place he was not a check number or a Hunky laborer, but a man. Into this place, as into the head blower's office, he entered removing his hat, but there the similarity ended. Here he was welcome, here he belonged. Here he spoke in his own tongue; and without fear, without awkwardness, he spoke of himself, his hopes, his troubles, his need of help. And God heard him out. For God knew him by name, knew about Mary and the children, understood how it was with all of them, and had a pretty good idea what kind of person, behind his laborer's clothes and poor English, Mike really was. God, in short, liked him.

The world was always a less unfriendly place and he nearly always walked a little straighter, heartened, protected, when he came out. 

From: Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell, Pittsburgh and London, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1976.

Photo from the United Steel Workers