I am a teacher. I get summers off....Not!!! I started planning for next year as soon as last year was over. I have two workshops to attend and a new curriculum to write. And I do want to spend quality time with my own family.
The first workshop has come and gone. It was a three day event on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I spent two nights away from my family...right in the middle of Vacation Bible School. This is normally a time for my co-workers and I to socialize away from school. Normally I enjoy the sitting around the "dinner table" and shooting the breeze. This year was a little different. A vast majority of the teachers attending were several years younger. Most enjoy the bar area. And clicks were formed. And I had a new book (the third in a series) that I was DYING to read. And I had a room to myself.
I am weird. I go to conferences to actually get new ideas...to improve my teaching. I don't go to let my hair down. I don't enjoy drinking. I don't enjoy being in that scene. I don't get why some think that conference means: oh, I can do things here that I can't or won't at home. I resent being made to feel that I have to be in that situation to socialize with my co-workers.
Monday, June 13, 2016
Monday, June 6, 2016
Conflicted Christian
I am not getting the Christian community right now. I have always had time periods in my life where I have had issues with organized religion. I have NEVER been conflicted about my faith in God...just man. I am the first to admit that I am not a biblical scholar. I am not a wise holy man (woman). I tend to wing it. I go on faith. I listen to my heart. I listen to that voice inside my gut that seems to start as a whisper and if I don't listen to it fast enough, it becomes a shout inside my head.
As a Christian, who is trying to live life as Jesus wants me to, I do not get as this hate coming from the Christian world. Christians are walking around like the world owes them something for being Christians....like the world has to bow to them and their beliefs...their way of life. It may just be me, but I thought it was the other way around. I thought it was the Christians who were to go out into the world and mingle in the world while preaching the Word. My Momma always said that you would catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. The more Christians become exclusive instead of inclusive, the more the world will push back against Christianity.
Modern day American Christians are throwing around the word persecution; however, they have no idea what persecution really is. Because the world is forcing Christians to show extreme love to non Christians? Because the world is forcing Christians to have opportunities to preach the word in a loving way? Because the world is forcing Christians to move outside their own comfort zones and to look deep into their own hearts to examine their own true faith? Can today's Christians handle the task that has been handed to them?
I don't get the entire separation of the denominations of Christianity. Baptists believe that they are better than Catholics who are better than Methodists who are better than Lutherans who are better than Pentecostals and so on. Really? Can we stop this insane belief that only people like "me" are true Christians? Look at the different people Jesus called to his side. Can we look at his example to be fisher of men today?
I really want to be more involved in my Church, but I feel that my views are in conflict with my church leadership. I don't believe that I have to accept everyone's views. However, I do believe that I have to love everyone and accept everyone....flaws and all. No one's sins are greater than my own. I only have to answer for my own sins. Only through love can non-believers be led to God. Fire and Brimstone will not do it. Jesus did not spread the Word in the temples. Jesus walked and talked among the sinners; however, most Christians refuse to go to the places where the non-believers are. Most Christians are only found in churches on Sunday mornings. They only go through the motions.
I am not perfect. I am guilty of being the comfort zone Christian. But I am tired of just being that Christian. The voice is screaming in head that I NEED to be doing more. I don't know what yet, so I guess I am doing to start with just one act of kindness in the name of God at a time. All I know is that love is the answer: for God so LOVED the world!!!! Christians must be examples of God's love on the Earth today.
As a Christian, who is trying to live life as Jesus wants me to, I do not get as this hate coming from the Christian world. Christians are walking around like the world owes them something for being Christians....like the world has to bow to them and their beliefs...their way of life. It may just be me, but I thought it was the other way around. I thought it was the Christians who were to go out into the world and mingle in the world while preaching the Word. My Momma always said that you would catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. The more Christians become exclusive instead of inclusive, the more the world will push back against Christianity.
Modern day American Christians are throwing around the word persecution; however, they have no idea what persecution really is. Because the world is forcing Christians to show extreme love to non Christians? Because the world is forcing Christians to have opportunities to preach the word in a loving way? Because the world is forcing Christians to move outside their own comfort zones and to look deep into their own hearts to examine their own true faith? Can today's Christians handle the task that has been handed to them?
I don't get the entire separation of the denominations of Christianity. Baptists believe that they are better than Catholics who are better than Methodists who are better than Lutherans who are better than Pentecostals and so on. Really? Can we stop this insane belief that only people like "me" are true Christians? Look at the different people Jesus called to his side. Can we look at his example to be fisher of men today?
I really want to be more involved in my Church, but I feel that my views are in conflict with my church leadership. I don't believe that I have to accept everyone's views. However, I do believe that I have to love everyone and accept everyone....flaws and all. No one's sins are greater than my own. I only have to answer for my own sins. Only through love can non-believers be led to God. Fire and Brimstone will not do it. Jesus did not spread the Word in the temples. Jesus walked and talked among the sinners; however, most Christians refuse to go to the places where the non-believers are. Most Christians are only found in churches on Sunday mornings. They only go through the motions.
I am not perfect. I am guilty of being the comfort zone Christian. But I am tired of just being that Christian. The voice is screaming in head that I NEED to be doing more. I don't know what yet, so I guess I am doing to start with just one act of kindness in the name of God at a time. All I know is that love is the answer: for God so LOVED the world!!!! Christians must be examples of God's love on the Earth today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)