Yea, I know. As a title for a blog post it's a cheap shot. Bu there really was this picture of nuns holding rifles right beside an article entitled, "Why I Hate Religion! 47 Reasons that will Send me to Hell!" The article was the usual rant about Christianity- the Roman Catholic Church in particular, with small comments about Hinduism, Judaism and Scientology to justify the article's title. The list of complaints revealed nothing new: mean nuns (hence the satirical picture), eternal damnation as a scare tactic to get you to behave, anti-gay attitudes, humiliating confessions, and lots of guilt. There were a few well written lines like, "the virgin birth set an impossibly high standard for the rest of us," that brought a smile to my face.
Then the tone of the article shifted. The author wrote almost wistfully about the beauty of church architecture and songs, and then he wrote, "but the thing I hate the most is that I have met some religious people who are not petty or bigoted at all, and that gets in the way of a lot of my theories."
Institutional anger can only get us so far, even when it is cultivated through remembering some painful, personal encounters, and anger at an institution doesn't answer our longing for God. There is a longing to touch the eternal inside us that is deeper than our anger. Anger can bury that longing but not eradicate it. If we take the time to listen to our hearts, that longing is there, in spite if our being mistreated by the church, or some Christian we know. We intuitively get that God is so much bigger than any one's unjust or miscreant behavior. We know (if we're willing to admit it) that the failures of a religious institution cannot contain or even define a God who still whispers to us in those uncynical moments when we see something beautiful and our hearts soften- just a little, even if only for a moment.
Those whispers register. They are like an old catalog we keep around even though we haven't ordered anything. These whispers don't go away; and no matter how much we fill our lives with accumulation, experiences, activities and relationships they are still there. "We were made for more," they tell us; and deep inside we know it.
Can you listen to those whispers? Start a dialog with the Infinite? Ask God to reveal God to you? Jesus says, "Come to me all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens." It's an invitation. The whispers don't have to be one way.
Then the tone of the article shifted. The author wrote almost wistfully about the beauty of church architecture and songs, and then he wrote, "but the thing I hate the most is that I have met some religious people who are not petty or bigoted at all, and that gets in the way of a lot of my theories."
Institutional anger can only get us so far, even when it is cultivated through remembering some painful, personal encounters, and anger at an institution doesn't answer our longing for God. There is a longing to touch the eternal inside us that is deeper than our anger. Anger can bury that longing but not eradicate it. If we take the time to listen to our hearts, that longing is there, in spite if our being mistreated by the church, or some Christian we know. We intuitively get that God is so much bigger than any one's unjust or miscreant behavior. We know (if we're willing to admit it) that the failures of a religious institution cannot contain or even define a God who still whispers to us in those uncynical moments when we see something beautiful and our hearts soften- just a little, even if only for a moment.
Those whispers register. They are like an old catalog we keep around even though we haven't ordered anything. These whispers don't go away; and no matter how much we fill our lives with accumulation, experiences, activities and relationships they are still there. "We were made for more," they tell us; and deep inside we know it.
Can you listen to those whispers? Start a dialog with the Infinite? Ask God to reveal God to you? Jesus says, "Come to me all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens." It's an invitation. The whispers don't have to be one way.
