Why?

Late this morning because of watching the coverage of our beloved Cove School’s 75th anniversary celebration on Channel 7. Excellent exposure over the two hour program, five to seven o’clock. And I saw my hero teacher and one of my life’s top most favorite families!

Norm put me onto this piece from NYT yesterday:


Interesting but unsurprising happenings on the American religious scene. Freeing too, actually, liberating. Half and a generation ago when the Episcopal Church and other so-called mainline denominations were rapidly losing membership, everybody said it was because our theological, political, social bent was too liberal. Especially did the literalists and fundamentalists say that and those who bailed on us. I thought that was a crock then, and it’s now being shown so, a crock. 

In a nutshell, Americans are becoming more like (other) Western Europeans, not religiously inclined, turning off toward organized religion. More than half a century after our European cousins, we are coming out of the Middle Ages, not intimidated by clergy, less swallowing and gullible, no longer terrified of “hell.” Spiritual but not Religious is the phrase many use. With the religious and political extremism of hatred toward anyone who is different showing up among Christians, who can blame or be surprised: in some ways, the XnRt resemble Muslim extremists, making all religion look like losers. And the XnRt’s smug anti-intellectualism paints all religious with the brush of ignorance, even stupidity. Small wonder the “None” category grows.

And scientific discoveries constantly raise the question “where’s God in all this?” with cosmology, space exploration, the Higgs boson. We’ve been above the clouds and didn’t see God, where are You? The answer is that God is present in human hearts, minds, eagerness to explore and learn and trash old nonsense. God is present when in the Name of His Son, little children get a backpack filled with food for the weekend. God is present when people gather lovingly to worship on Sundays and to study His Word at other times. God is present in facts but not in absurdity. 

People fall away from church when church is greedy, boring, self-centered, or seems to offer nothing they can’t do alone. People fall away when pastors come out of seminary either stuffed with nonsense to spread around; or intelligently educated but reluctant to share what they’ve discovered because they’re afraid the people are too simple and set in their certainties to learn new things.

But God is here and God is there. Jesus‘ mission was to proclaim -- to proclaim the presence and reign of God in human life. He has been described as “not religious,” even “anti-religious,” and the scribes and Pharisees must surely have found Him so as He kicked over their garbage cans. God is present in agape, in lovingkindness, in grace alone.

If I climb up into heaven, thou art there;
    if I go down to hell, thou art there also.
If I take the wings of the morning,
    and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there also shall thy hand lead me,
    and thy right hand shall hold me. (fm Ps 139)


TW+