Jenn’s Sunday Sermon

This is the inaugural post of what I hope will be a weekly series. My goal is to take on the so-called Christians who want everyone to worship THEIR god, while simultaneously ignoring all of their Lord and Savior’s teachings.

In the interests of full disclosure, I have to point out that I am not a Christian. I’ve no idea what to call myself, but “Zen Humanist Agnostic Wiccan Buddhist” sorta/kinda works.

I was raised, baptized, and married in the local Presbyterian Church, and I’m a three-time winner of the ‘Memorization Award’ in Sunday School for memorizing the most verses in a year. But over the years, my questions grew and the church was never able to satisfactorily answer them. I began a journey of discovery to what I call my “patchwork” faith – little bits from here and there, this and that, that speak to me. So there you have it – no real qualifications.
I do not believe in the Christian God – except as being the same Divinity worshiped by all religions. I believe Christ to be a wise man and teacher, but not Divine. Thus ends the disclosure.

Today’s Sunday Sermon is on: The Least of These

When you look at many of the televangelists – James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, etc – you often see them preaching against homosexuality, against abortion, against sex education, against- well, common sense. And all of them spend time begging for money to “continue their ministry” or to “fight the liberals” etc.. But are their followers aware of how much of that money goes directly to their televangelist’s pockets? Do you really think God said, “Pat Robertson needs a mansion in Virginia Beach.”?

Christ told his followers that the greatest Commandment was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your body, and all your soul.” He said the second greatest was to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

When Christ was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” he told the story of the Good Samaritan. Samarra was an enemy of Israel, but only the Samaritan stopped to aid the injured man. Christ meant everyone was your neighbor. Short Jesus: Love everyone, no exceptions! (ironic side note: Samarra is in modern-day Iraq.)

Later in his ministry, Christ gave us the most important lesson of all. “Whatsoever you have done for the least of these, you have done likewise for me.” Christ gave us, more or less, the instruction manual for getting to heaven. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give aid to the poor, the sick, the widowed, the orphaned, the imprisoned.

You see many people claiming to be Christians, but few of these are working to aid the poor.

I find it sad that a President who claims to be a Christian, who claims to be led by the Lord – who actually claims to SPEAK with God – gives tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting funding for Medicaid and Medicare, WIC, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamps, Veterans Benefits. Starts a war in Iraq under false pretenses, but fails to ensure soldiers are provided with body armor, fails to ensure military vehicles are properly outfitted with uparmor, fails to provide immediate assistance in the aftermath of a Class 5 hurricane – leading to the deaths of over 1300 people. And the list goes on.

I know a great many people who are not Christians, who are not religious at all, but who follow this one command. Not because it came from Christ, but because it is the right thing to do. They believe that those with more should help those with nothing.

While chatting on the board of another blog, I commented that – if there is a Heaven – I believe God (by any name) will have only one question for those arriving at the Pearly Gates:

“What have you done for ‘the least of these’?”

The answer to that question will determine who gets in.

Branding Republicans

Blogger Our Karl Rove has a list of easy one-line tags to slap on the Republicans.

(…) But, as Republicans have learned through experience, it’s easier to re-brand your foe than yourself in politics. And, what better time to start some baseline Republican re-branding just before the races heat up for the 2006 congressional elections? (…)

• Republicans — they spend our savings and tax your children
• Republicans — they’ll bug your phone and track your web searches… feel safe now?
• Republicans — if they’re so good at war, why are our troops dying every week?
• Republicans — bringing America down, one blunder at a time
• Republicans — they’re sure they’re right, even when they’re dead wrong
• Republicans — my tax cut was nice, but it’s all going to heat my home and fill up my car
• Republicans — sponsored in part by Abramoff, the corrupt lobbyist
• Republicans — absolute power corrupts absolutely
• Republicans — the party of self destruction in search of weapons of mass destruction (…)