16 April 2010

Getting all biblical instead of political for a change

Sure haven't had much to say lately. I get in these funks where I feel like anything I say has either been said before, or doesn't need saying. Depression, I guess. Plus, life in the FCS household has been more crazy than usual because I put my back out badly (thanks to the evil awful gluten hiding in lentils of all damned things), and Mr. FCS had to take three days off work to look after the kids for me. *sigh* I've also been dealing with more bureaucracy than I've ever wanted to, both at home and church. So I keep finding myself saying, "Ya know, when all is said and done, there had better be Answers!"

I don't pretend to have all of them, unlike some other Christians I know. Seriously, it's almost comical to watch them try to answer the big questions. But I do take solace in this: God acts through people. If people won't listen to God and do what God asks, we're fucked. Bad things happen because people don't listen to God. And sometimes bad things happen because they just do - like earthquakes that hit the poorest countries. God doesn't decide one day to decimate a country. I'm sure of it. Not my God. Maybe yours, but not mine. It happens, and we are given the opportunity to do God's work. That there is hunger in a world with more than enough food to feed everyone is not a tragedy of God's creation, it's a tragedy of human creation. People have the power to fix almost any problem. We really do. If we'd listen to the quiet voice that says, "Go, do my work". The atheists would call it our conscience - and maybe that's God, maybe not. I don't care.

I forget where I read this, but it's perfect for right now:
If a voice in your ear, speaks of faith, not of fear, and tells you to go be a do-er,
Give heed to the voice that makes love your first choice,
And throw protocol down the sewer.

When we put our money first, we're denying God. Remember the story of Jesus appearing to the fishermen disciples, and asking Peter if he truly loves him more than the food he's eating? Sure, it's a story of forgiveness (offering Peter the chance at redemption for previously denying him three times), but it's also a reminder that loving God is more important than the love of anything or anyone else. So when we won't help the least of His brothers or sisters, what are we saying? When we put our own comfort first, what are we doing?

It's why I refuse to even consider voting for a party who would imprison people who are harmless (dope smokers), who would leave the disabled to beg for charity, who would rather kill convicts than pay for them to be properly incarcerated.

And of course, I fail at it every day. Every day that I buy new clothes for my kids instead of used ones, giving the savings to the poor. Every day that I spend money on luxury instead of helping feed the hungry. I fail every day. We all do. All I can do is try a little harder tomorrow. Please try with me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I get in these funks where I feel like anything I say has either been said before, or doesn't need saying."

Ditto.

As a socialist feminist, who was raised as an atheist but now considers herself to be an agnostic with spiritual yearnings, I think I'll be returning to this site a fair bit. Exciting!

Luna said...

Welcome, Polly! Glad you like it. :)