raising godzillas

Speaking the language of God's love to the world.

Today is Pentecost, the birthday of the church. In our church, Grace Lutheran Church , we celebrate by reading in different languages, a "re-enactment" of the first Pentecost. Today Pastor John gave a wonderful sermon about speaking God's word, in words and actions, in a language the world can understand.  God's language is the language of love, justice, mercy and acceptance. We speak this language very well at Grace.
There are those who would say that the church at large is not doing a very good job of speaking God's love. I can see, viewing the news, how it's easy to take that view. But as a lifelong active Christian, I can't agree with that view. My grandmother had a saying, often quoted while watching the news "The only airplanes you hear about are the ones that crash". In other words, just like an airplane that leaves on time and reaches it's destination safely is not headline news, people going about their lives being good citizens isn't either. The same goes for people of any, or no, spiritual path. I don't think ( as some Christians do ) that there is a liberal media conspiracy that wants to make Christians look bad. I think the news outlets just care about what sells. Christians doing what Jesus told us to do is not best selling news. Christians behaving badly is.
It saddens me that non Christians see people like Fred Phelps and Pat Robertson and think they are somehow representative of the faith.  I'd love to see an article that says "Church helps food pantry process 2 1/2 tons of food in one morning, assists elderly in city who cannot do their own yard work and allow them to avoid a citation,  sends team to Haiti to rebuild after earthquake, hosts AA, NA, and Al-anon meetings, provides free tutoring to at risk children and free dental check up and referrals to locals without medical insurance " . And that would be a  slow week at Grace. Those are much better words than "Self proclaimed pastor pickets soldier's funeral because he claims acceptance of homosexuals is causing God to punish us with a war". These are the true words, the words the vast majority of Christians are speaking quietly, every day, all around you.

posted by gojirama @ 4:14 PM