Yesterday, I listened to The West Wing Weekly podcast about the episode I persist in calling "the Ephesians 5:21 episode" but I believe is more properly titled "War Crimes," in which the Bartlets return from Mass with the president complaining bitterly about the sermon being terrible. (A thing I have done a few times in my life, but not the week the minister went to Google images for sermon illustrations and chose an image without checking the source, and it was a still from the soap opera Days of Our Lives. That was a great Sunday.) He says:
Saint Paul begins the passage: "Be subject to one another out of reverence to Christ." "Be subject to one another." In this day and age of 24-hour cable crap, devoted to feeding the voyeuristic gluttony of the American public, hooked on a bad soap opera that's passing itself off as important, don't you think you might be able to find some relevance in verse 21? How to end the cycle? Be subject to one another!It's fantastic enough to see a character of deep faith on TV. It's even better when he or she articulates that faith in a way that shows the heart of the character. And such a heart is one I'd like to have, a heart that can stop being a narcissist for possibly minutes at a time to consider just how serious the "one another" passages (there are a bunch of them, by the way, should you be looking for something to read) are, to take them to heart and act on them.
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| I was a bit stuck for an appropriate image for this post, then ran across this old tweet. So, yeah, more of this and less of the other stuff. |
3 comments:
I was actually pleasantly surprised that this morning's sermon had nothing to do with motherhood. Mothers were briefly honored at the beginning with flowers; I actually went up and got one for my mom, who was present...And then we moved on. It was kind of refreshing, at least to me. (I'm not a mother, either; I think I would've loved it but for whatever reason, marriage & family has not been my path so far. But I have my school kids now and while it's not the same, it has helped. I know you and Chad taught Sunday school and were involved... I wish I'd done more of that years ago.) I hope your morning was good or better-than-usual and I hope I haven't made it worse. Sending an extra big hug to you today and lots of love! I bet you are a spiritual mother to lots of people, and I'm sure you've heard that before, but it is something I hope for myself to become. And who knows, maybe someday I'll be an adoptive mother, too. We'll see... <3 <3 <3
It was a GREAT morning, and while I'm not surprised, there's always an off chance that things will go sideways. I mean, I was crying for most of church, but for the usual reasons (one of the songs set me off and I couldn't make it stop), not for holiday-related reasons.
Your encouragement is spot-on, as usual! I still say I'm the lucky one in this friendship. Hugs back at you, and I know you're having a positive impact on those around you in ways we may never know this side of eternity.
Sounds like you have found a really good church family there! I understand about the crying--seems like I cry much more easily now than I did as a kid. Sometimes I cry at commercials, for crying out loud! :-$ ((((hugs!))))
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