PeaceBang

The Religion About Jesus Or the Religion OF Jesus?

Scott Wells asks a provocative question over at Boy In the Bands and has sparked an interesting conversation.

Funny, but when I first heard that oft-quoted classical Unitarian claim that we practice the religion OF Jesus rather than the religion ABOUT Jesus, I never questioned it. It sounded good, solid, and it resonated with me. I was starting to define myself as a “Jesus Person,” it was the early 1990’s, and I wanted to believe it.

Do I believe it now? Yes and no. It is certainly my experience is that Unitarian Universalists try just as hard as any other religious community to minister to each other and to the wider world in some of the ways Jesus taught and modeled. It seems fair to say that without being officially Christian, contemporary UUs have continued to care about many of the same issues as did their Christian Unitarian and Universalist forebears, and maybe not even for entirely different theological or moral reasons.

But it is also fair to say that we practice the religion ABOUT Jesus, in that we are perpetually obsessed with defining ourselves as Other Than Christian while maintaining unmistakably Protestant forms of worship, polity and culture in our congregational life. The vast majority of seekers to our congregations are either formerly Christian church-goers or unavoidably soaked in Christian culture (perhaps it would be more accurate to say “Christendom”) by virtue of living in the United States.
We are therefore always in the business of re-interpreting Christianity within our churches, helping angry ex-Christians heal their spiritual wounds, and answering the inevitable questions of what are we really, if not Something That Isn’t Exactly Christian But Obviously Closely Related To It.

No really developed thoughts here, folks, just glad Scott brought it up.

Just Checking In

Hi dears,
Thank you all for your fantastic recommendations for my Passover sermon. Not only did 25 of you weigh in on-line, several of you sent wonderful resources privately and I just want to say that you’re funderfulf.

Life is just a bit too full these days and I’m having many thoughts on subjects I’d love to discuss with you but no time to write.

So for now, just thanks.

The Pageless Book

Cripes, I don’t know how I’ve missed John Pageless’ blog for this long, but I’m sorry to have just discovered it tonight. Check it out, ya’ll. If you don’t hear from me for awhile it’s because I’m currently thinking boring, peaceful thoughts and catching up on John’s entries.

No, but seriously about thinking “boring thoughts:” I am sick about Kenya, beautiful Kenya where “these things don’t happen.” As I am trying to embrace a spiritual practice of not thinking aggressive and agitating thoughts that lead nowhere but to unproductive tension, I let my body express anguish for me. I’ve never in my life prayed on my knees of my own volition (I mean, I’m sure I scrunched down a few times as a visitor to an Episcopal or Orthodox service). Now I understand the value. All the distraught thoughts in the world can’t bring back those horribly tormented, burnt and machete-hacked, desecrated dead. But me praying on my knees for God’s realm to be made manifest among us can at least put my spirit in the right condition of receptivity for life as it is, and make my heart full of hope for life as it could be.

Lord have mercy on us.

Blessings for 2008

I was going to do a “Best of 2007″ list (books, movies, that sort of thing), but I’ve decided on a hot bath and a snuggle with the cat instead. A friend is coming over at 11:00 after work and if we stay awake long enough to watch the ball drop, it will be a miracle. I had planned to be fast asleep by 10:00, so this is high living indeed.

I think something he said to me tonight will turn out to be my favorite quote of the year: “If you’re a super engine going full throttle 95% of the time, you get to be a total train wreck the other 5%.”

PeaceBang Blog is Three Years Old!

Merry Christmas!

PeaceBang is (mostly) on hiatus for the time being and wishes you a beautiful and blessed holiday.

Advent Hiatus

Dear friends,

I will be on blogging hiatus through the rest of Advent. See you soon, and have a wonderful holiday season. If you start to miss me , just think of all those wonderful archives you can peruse — almost three year’s worth now! Wow.

Comment Moderation

Sorry to those of you who contributed comments that got caught up in a queue that I didn’t know existed. It’s a long, boring story but I think we’re up to date now.
I do try to stay on top of this blog, but sometimes I fail.
Mea culpa.

No, Really, I’m Okay

Just because I seem to have TOTALLY LOST an orange notebook that I carried around with me all summer and wrote outlines for TWENTY SERMONS in doesn’t mean I’m going to do anything drastic.

Because I’m going to find… it…
*sob*
I’m going to find! it!
*sob*

Even though I’ve looked everywhere for three days and called all my family members to see whether I left it with them and everything doesn’t mean I should lose hope!

But even if it is totally lost forever and ever, I will be okay with that. I will accept that.

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the –
(sound of PeaceBang stabbing herself in the eye with a pen).

Happy Anniversary!

Happy anniversary to Jonathan and Scott, my little D.C. Moo Cows!!