Friday Random Ten

annamaria's got this up too on the original (to me anyway) home of the FRT.
here's my mellow list. guess iTunes thinks i need to relax more:
1)Momma, Where's My Daddy? - Keb'Mo'
2)Tata Dios - Linda Ronstadt
3)Al Sur Del Bravo - Los Tigres Del Norte
4)I Can't Dance - Gram Parsons
5)The End - Ryan Adams
6)Senorita - Los Lonely Boys
7)Back of My Mind - John Hiatt
8)The Big Wheels - Jimmy LaFave
9)Scarlet Begonias (live, 7/29/74) - The Grateful Dead
10)Emotionally Yours - Jimmy LaFave

have a great weekend and y'all come back monday...i think things will be interesting.
>;-)

Law and Grace

Law says: "try harder." It says: "if you really wanted to you could."

And law is the way most of us hear the message of Christianity. But that's not what the Gospel says.

Gospel means "good news." And the message that says "you can be good if you really want to be," or that says "if you would only try harder you could do it" doesn't sound like good news to those who have tried and failed. It doesn't sound like a message that says salvation is available to everyone.

To me that sounds like good news for the strong, the self-controlled, the self-disciplined. Or for those who've never really struggled, who don't know what it's like to truly hate the wrong in their lives. It sounds like good news for those who live in a Father Knows Best fairy tale. Or who are blind to the grace and mercy that they have received. Like the ex-smoker who has forgotten how hard it was to kick the habit and now berates those who say they want to quit but fail every time they try. It's Christianity for those who have no sense of "there but for the grace of God go I." And it's not the Gospel of Jesus as shown in the bible.

Grace says: "I love you as you are." And then grace says: " I love you enough not to leave you as you are."

Grace says: "in weakness I am made strong." Grace says: "let me change you."

Jesus spoke of the Pharisees as those who laid a heavy burden on others that they themselves would not bear. Considering how religious the Pharisees were I find this very interesting. In our world the concept we have of a pharisee is one of hypocrisy. Yet if we look closely at the first century world of Jesus we see that the pharisees were people who were fanatically serious about attending to even the most minute details of their religion. Not only did they tithe (giving 10% minimum of income) to the temple, they gave alms to the poor over and above those tithes. They prayed multiple times a day on a consistent basis. They observed the sabbath scrupulously. They were the most religiously observant Jews of their time. And they demanded the same response from others.

But some folks then, as now, struggle to live such lives. As hard as they try, they fail to live such a structured life of religious observance. They could spend every moment of their lives trying harder and they still would not be able to do it. It's beyond them. It's beyond me. Such a demanding religious expression then must not be the burden the pharisees laid upon others that they themselves would not bear. So what was that burden?

Here's how Jesus described it: "Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. " (Matthew 12:4-5 from The Message, a translation of the New Testament by Eugene Peterson)

Implicit in the Mosaic Law and the Judaic traditions are grace and mercy. The giving of alms is not a tax to be paid, but an act of compassion, expressing a desire to alleviate the hurt of another. Mercy. Sabbath observance is not a ritual to affirm our religiously correct behavior, but a time to withdraw from the demands of living and to refocus and center our lives in our relationship with our Creator. There is within that ritual a recognition of the broken bond between the human and the divine that must be repaired. And that sabbath is not something we do for God, but that it is God's gift to us. Grace.

The burden they lay upon others -- "try harder" and "If you really wanted to you could."

No grace. No mercy.

And no recognition of the places in their own lives in which they, too, fail to be the people God has called us to be. They've got the externals down pat. But their hearts are hard and their lives are un-redeemed.

Jesus says to all of us who struggle, who know how weak we are, who have tried and tried, and failed and failed, and who are ready to give up, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message.)

The League Commissioner

Jenn posted about people being in different leagues. I am sure we can all relate to the idea.
But I was reminded of it this week while thinking of something seemingly unrelated.

I heard the term "good Christian" used the other day and I started to think. To me, that is almost an oxymoron, and I could see myself being a little offended if someone referred to me in that way. To me, being a "Christian" is an acknowledgement of my shortcomings as a human when compared to God and my need for His Grace in order to for there to be a relationship between us. The more time I spend contemplating my relationship with God, and His (really, i would prefer gender-neutral but don't have annamaria's vocabulary) nature, the more astounded I become that we can even begin to have any relationship with Him, He is so out of our league!

I bristle when I hear "religous" people talking about all the things they have done for Christ and others. I become annoyed when I hear talk that smacks of complacency with the spiritual walk one is on, as though it is like a stage of life you only need to get through and then be done with it.

The more time I spend in the consideration of things, the more I become aware of my shortcomings and imperfections when measured against the perfection of God. Which is funny, because the "closer" I get to God, the further away I realize I am.
I have no trouble at all with people that say they don't believe in God. In fact, I think it likely that after reaching this conclusion, the matter hasn't been given a second thought. And, just like those that assume because they are better (less worse?) than others, they can rely on God's love as part of a universal redemption plan. I pray for each, that God's mercy also be known to them.

If someone acts and says they know all about God, I'm thinking they haven't considered the question yet.

So we head toward Easter. Dinners and dresses, new outfits and family pictures. A chance to celebrate Spring. For some of us, it is also associated with the deepest, most profound mix of shame, despair, joy and relief imaginable, along with other emotions.

O God, if I worship you in fear of hell, burn me in hell. If I worship you in hope of paradise, shut me out of paradise. But if I worship you for your own sake, do not withhold from me your everlasting beauty.
- Rabi'a, Islamic poet

The Wall that Keeps Illegal Workers In

The face of illegal immigrants is different here in the east compared to the one seen by y'all out West. Oh, we have some latinos in the restaurants or working as day laborers on construction sites. And Eastern Long Island, with the Hamptons where the rich folks play, has struggled with an influx of Mexicans, legal and illegal working in the vineyards. But for the most part illegal workers are invisible. They're nurses from Ireland. Tech workers from South Asia. They blend into the citizenry. And fill needed positions. They cover the holes where there are labor shortages: like in nursing. At least that's what the reports I've read tell me. Here's another one that shows how our efforts at sealing the southern border have mostly resulted not in keeping people out, but instead, keeping illegal workers in!

Seems folks used to go back and forth across the border. They'd come here and work and then go home when they had enough to sustain themselves and their families. Conversations with the guys Kurt and I played soccer with in the 80's seemed to bear this out. Now, according to this study, the increased border enforcement isn't keeping many people out, but it is raising the risk so that folks don't go back across. They just stay here once they get in.

Nothing like our government for screwing things up. We've messed with our immigration policies so much in the last hundred years that now we've got it perfectly refined: we've made it nearly impossible for people who want to become American citizens and who are willing to follow the rules and immigrate legally to do so, all while making sure that those who have come illegally and aren't really interested in citizenship, and would prefer to return to their homelands, are stuck here, unable to leave. How's that for perfecting the system?

If we continue to listen to the blowhards in the House we'll just make the system more and more "perfect." The Senate Judiciary Committee has a much better grasp of the situation, and a better plan for resolving the problem. It's time to ignore the DeLay's of the world (thank God he's quitting) and start listening to the Domenici's.