Potluck religious stew

Someone once told me we’ll be able to pick out the Baptists when we get to heaven. They’ll be the ones toting the covered dishes. Eating has always been a hallmark for us church folks. We love to eat and gather around the dinner table.

The trouble is, it seems to me the church is guilty of treating church like a pot luck supper.  More and more we’re ignoring God’s banquet table and cooking up our own “kitchen religion”.  The church would rather eat whatever tastes good than feast on God’s Word.  The church would rather roast a bunch of rules and regulations than feast on the Bread of Life. The church would rather gorge on opulence than taste obedience.

“I’ve made myself available
    to those who haven’t bothered to ask.
I’m here, ready to be found
    by those who haven’t bothered to look.
I kept saying ‘I’m here, I’m right here’
    to a nation that ignored me.
I reached out day after day
    to a people who turned their backs on me,
People who make wrong turns,
    who insist on doing things their own way.
They get on my nerves,
    are rude to my face day after day,
Make up their own kitchen religion,
    a potluck religious stew.
Isaiah 65:1-3 MSG

No way to treat a gay waitress

A gay Charlotte, North Carolina waitress was dismayed this week when a woman customer scribbled Leviticus 20:13 on the ticket where the tip should be.

You might be a Pharisee if . . .

You might be a Pharisee if . . .

you catch yourself saying, “You can’t talk to me like that!”

you think life is not always fair.

your prayers are more self-talk than talking with God.

you catch yourself mumbling, “Did you hear about…”

you believe you’re more spiritual than your friends.

you justify your anger because you know you’re in the right.

you enjoy receiving praise from other believers.

you believe you’re pleasing God by following rules.

you believe you’re humble.

you don’t think you need anybody’s help”.

outward righteousness is better than heart holiness.

you  celebrate the failures of others.

you obsess over the opinion of others.

you are convinced your opinion is the only right one.

you’re quick to criticize others when they disagree with you.

you think “Christians” who don’t agree with you are “compromisers”.

you feel good when you catch someone’s Scriptural error.

you look down on people who are not on your spiritual level.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness
and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee
and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood by himself
and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—
robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not
even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said,
‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other,
went home justified before God. For all those who
exalt themselves will be humbled, and those
who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

Holy Sexuality, Batman!

All Roads Lead To Heaven