exhale....
Jul. 25th, 2002 12:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
violachicOk, so bear with me, friends 'o mine, for I am sure I will be rambling and babbling. I can guarantee I will bore some of you, and quite possibly simply cause some of you to shake your heads. But I am going to attempt to verbalize what is racing through my brain right now. It will be difficult for two reasons:
1)I am afraid people will not like or understand what I have to say, that it will turn them off, or worst of all, they just won't care; and
2)I don't think I've totally figured it out yet, either.
Yeah, so I will be struggling to figure out what to say, and how to say it.
Suffice to say, I had a very interesting week.
Interesting
Fabulous
Hot (but that's ok cuz it was DRY heat!)
Transcending
Cementing
Wonderful
Deep
Heartbreaking
Thought-provoking
Interesting.
To sum up, if you've missed some of my previous postings, I spent last week getting to, being involved with, and coming home from (yeah, four days total on a bus, WOOHOO!!), a trip to Colorado State University at Fort Collins, Colorado with five high school kids from my church for the Church of the Brethren National Youth Conference. I also learned how to write in run-on sentences. But that's neither here nor there. So before you get totally turned off, or even pissed, let me hasten to reassure you that there is no preaching nor "saving" involved in this. For those of you who know me well, you will know that neither of those is up my alley in a big way. In fact, nothing pisses me off more than "Jesus Talk". But anyway....I digress...
Doesn't religion seem so empty? Especially Christianity. There's so much cotton candy and skittles handed 'round, and the only "depth" involved seems to have to do with the abyss of hell. It's really enough to make a chick sick. Or convert. Or abandon religion altogether. Ok, so what point am I getting to here? In all of my life of being involved in churches and religion and the study of theology- and even theosophy- I've never seen anything like what I saw last week. I get so sick of the "Jesus loves you", "salvation and heaven vs. fire and brimstone" crap. Religion can be just so goddammed SELFISH. But I was so relieved to finally see people who claimed to be Christian and actually wanted to do something about it besides "witness". What the hell is witness, anyway?![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
divalibby76 posted this really really neato religious satire thing a few days ago. When you're done wif me- or just need a break- go check it out. But again, I digress. Last week I saw high school kids get confronted with really serious, global issues and RESPOND to them. Every day- every presentation- had something to challenge them, something to think about. Horrible statistics about land-mine victims, children dying all over the world because of lack of simple medicines, environmental concerns. It was weird. It was like being at a hippie convention, only afterward you went to church. It was a gathering of 2500 kids, and in THREE days they managed to build THREE houses for Habitat for Humanity. When I was in high school, I went to a gathering of 30,000 Lutheran youth and in a weeks time that many people could barely manage ONE house.
So anyway....I'm getting worked up. Maybe I should breathe for a minute.
I also realized that I can't ignore any more what I'm meant to do. For so long I've been fighting the feeling that I should be functioning in a service role. Cat and Steve, you are right, both of you. More right than any of us know, I'm sure. I should join the ranks of people who are out there devoted to making life better for other people. So I've made an initial decision. I'm going to apply to join the Brethren Volunteer Service. I don't know exactly when, I might put my application in as soon as this fall. But I need to do it. I just have a few other decisions to make. My life isn't really going anywhere anyway, I may as well try to do some good while I figure out how to get my wheels to stop spinning.
It all gives me new perspective on the whole "What Would Jesus Do?" thing. Which is really good because that whole campaign has pretty much pissed me off from the start. Because he sure as hell isn't going to pay $22.50 for a freaking baseball cap with his name on it while children are starving in the next city. Some days I really hate living in Wheaton. Ok, most days.
By the way, I don't believe in coincidence anymore.
But I do still believe in my bed and pillow, so I will gently and gracefully step down from my soap box and go to sleep.
Peace out, man.
1)I am afraid people will not like or understand what I have to say, that it will turn them off, or worst of all, they just won't care; and
2)I don't think I've totally figured it out yet, either.
Yeah, so I will be struggling to figure out what to say, and how to say it.
Suffice to say, I had a very interesting week.
Interesting
Fabulous
Hot (but that's ok cuz it was DRY heat!)
Transcending
Cementing
Wonderful
Deep
Heartbreaking
Thought-provoking
Interesting.
To sum up, if you've missed some of my previous postings, I spent last week getting to, being involved with, and coming home from (yeah, four days total on a bus, WOOHOO!!), a trip to Colorado State University at Fort Collins, Colorado with five high school kids from my church for the Church of the Brethren National Youth Conference. I also learned how to write in run-on sentences. But that's neither here nor there. So before you get totally turned off, or even pissed, let me hasten to reassure you that there is no preaching nor "saving" involved in this. For those of you who know me well, you will know that neither of those is up my alley in a big way. In fact, nothing pisses me off more than "Jesus Talk". But anyway....I digress...
Doesn't religion seem so empty? Especially Christianity. There's so much cotton candy and skittles handed 'round, and the only "depth" involved seems to have to do with the abyss of hell. It's really enough to make a chick sick. Or convert. Or abandon religion altogether. Ok, so what point am I getting to here? In all of my life of being involved in churches and religion and the study of theology- and even theosophy- I've never seen anything like what I saw last week. I get so sick of the "Jesus loves you", "salvation and heaven vs. fire and brimstone" crap. Religion can be just so goddammed SELFISH. But I was so relieved to finally see people who claimed to be Christian and actually wanted to do something about it besides "witness". What the hell is witness, anyway?
divalibby76 posted this really really neato religious satire thing a few days ago. When you're done wif me- or just need a break- go check it out. But again, I digress. Last week I saw high school kids get confronted with really serious, global issues and RESPOND to them. Every day- every presentation- had something to challenge them, something to think about. Horrible statistics about land-mine victims, children dying all over the world because of lack of simple medicines, environmental concerns. It was weird. It was like being at a hippie convention, only afterward you went to church. It was a gathering of 2500 kids, and in THREE days they managed to build THREE houses for Habitat for Humanity. When I was in high school, I went to a gathering of 30,000 Lutheran youth and in a weeks time that many people could barely manage ONE house. So anyway....I'm getting worked up. Maybe I should breathe for a minute.
I also realized that I can't ignore any more what I'm meant to do. For so long I've been fighting the feeling that I should be functioning in a service role. Cat and Steve, you are right, both of you. More right than any of us know, I'm sure. I should join the ranks of people who are out there devoted to making life better for other people. So I've made an initial decision. I'm going to apply to join the Brethren Volunteer Service. I don't know exactly when, I might put my application in as soon as this fall. But I need to do it. I just have a few other decisions to make. My life isn't really going anywhere anyway, I may as well try to do some good while I figure out how to get my wheels to stop spinning.
It all gives me new perspective on the whole "What Would Jesus Do?" thing. Which is really good because that whole campaign has pretty much pissed me off from the start. Because he sure as hell isn't going to pay $22.50 for a freaking baseball cap with his name on it while children are starving in the next city. Some days I really hate living in Wheaton. Ok, most days.
By the way, I don't believe in coincidence anymore.
But I do still believe in my bed and pillow, so I will gently and gracefully step down from my soap box and go to sleep.
Peace out, man.
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no subject
Date: 2002-07-25 06:56 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2002-07-25 11:14 am (UTC)