Anne Lamott, Fear, and God in my image.
I have Anne Lamott on my brain. I ran into her the other day at the drugstore. She was wearing her pink suede Converse All-Stars, and for some reason I cannot get her out of my mind. I am forever reminded of her conversion expereince, "F*** it, I give up." When we are at the end of oursleves and in the deepest darkest place and ready to scream, "My God why have you forsaken me", God is often closer then than at any other time. She reminds me that God never stops pursuing us. For her, and for me, conversion happens when I am at the end of myself... completely. When I die to Rick, God is able resurrect my life.. not to its former self, but new life. Old things pass away, behold all things become new... How does conversion happen for for you?
My wife and I attended church with Anne for a brief period of time a few years ago but were never close to her. About five minutes ago I bumped into James Noel, my former preaching professor, who just so happened to be Annie’s former pastor at St. Andrew where we attended. I told him, "I was just thinking about you. I picked up Anne’s book earlier for the first time in several years and was reminded that she spoke of you." (I was thinking to myself what a coincidence it was to "bump" into him)
He and I started talking about current events, which led to discussing preaching, which led to our talking about fear. He said, "Christians need to know that George Bush or John Kerry cannot save them. (I'm thinking, uh oh, here we go...) We as Christians have done a poor job of bringing the real message to others and into the forefront of the conversation. That’s my message for the next couple of months— neither George Bush or John Kerry is going to save you..."
He went on to say, "Christians have to know that loving the outsiders and welcoming them to the table—inclusion—is the way of Jesus. We keep thinking killing folks is the answer. Heck, sooner or later we’ll run out of folks to kill and then you or I may look like the terrorist to the person pointing the gun."
I was thinking what the hell does this have to do with Anne Lamott? He was essentially talking about conversion. I was reminded that she said, "You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."
That left me wondering, "Who does my God hate?" Does my image of God need a conversion experience?
How 'bout you? Who does your God hate today?
12 Comments:
Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw..."who would Jesus bomb?"...
@ www.landoverbaptist.org
same message of a god created by and large by a lot of folks, sadly enough, by their own ignorance...
Is the implication here that God does not hate? Seems that would not be what some would call a Biblical perspective:
Psalm 11:5
Proverbs 6:16-19
Isaiah 61:8
Zechariah 8:17
Malachi 2:16
Your pastor's mindless statement about running out of people to kill and then looking like a terrorist to those who are left makes no credible or logical sense to me, it would be great to hear him expound.
The most dangerous thing to come out of the mouths of the religious left is this notion that evil can be overcome through inclusivity. Hitler wasn't going to be stopped by what so many on the left label as love. Neither was Stalin. And it would not have helped the millions murdered in the killing fields of Cambodia, killings that arguably were spurred on by the likes of John Kerry and his merry band of communist sympathizers.
I'd recommend that your pastor, Anne Lamott and other mindless twits conscript an army of hugging lovers and loving huggers, take their philosophies abroad to Islamofascist hotbeds and see for themselves how far their utopian (and ignorant) ideologies will take them.
But one thing I've found that most who sing this same song lack is courage to carry out their idealistic notions.
Seems that when the rubber meets the road, good sense eventually reigns.
-Rick
http://www.brutallyhonest.org
Thanks for visiting my blog. You have a very narrow, fundamentalist understanding of scripture. If is wasn't such a serious issue, I would find your close-mindeness humorous. Part of me feels sorry for you for you seem to be full of hate toward those you disagree with. WHO DOES YOUR GOD HATE TODAY? That is sad. My hope is that God will melt what comes across as a cold, hate-filled heart and your will be transformed by the Gospel Of Jesus Christ and the love of God.
Powerful questions, brother...and powerful responses.
I empathize completely with Lamott's "I give up" conversion moment. And those words appear frequently even in my "new life," because I seem to be wired such that I never "see the light" - I always seem to need to "feel the heat." I am walking proof of Chuck Chamberlain's statement that the ego exists primarily to drive us back to God (by driving us to places of true brokenness, time and time again). I wish I could change that.
I lived for 13 years in Kansas City, a stone's throw away from where Fred Phelps' army was based in Topeka. So he and his anti-gay storm-troopers were frequent visitors to KC, throwing paint on mourners at funerals of gays and lesbians, shouting loving, caring sentiments like "God Hates Fags" and "Queers Burn in Hell" whenever and wherever they could. There were many funerals, and church services, and newscasts where I thought I hated Fred Phelps - but I never believed that *God* hated Phelps, any more than God hated the gays Phelps was denouncing.
If my God hated anybody, He would hate *me*. I have been an idolator, a liar and a thief, a drunk, and have at least *dabbled* in a good many of the abominations for which the book of Leviticus would have sentenced me to death. But for some insane, God-sized reason, God sent Jesus for me, so that even while I was still drowning in sin, I would hear the words that my God had sent his Son for me. Jesus came for me, and folks like me, "that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10, KJV).
Paul said it best: "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures..." Maybe that ought to be my test of what God considers "of first importance." Not who's on what side, or who's voting for whom, or who's fighting for what.
In the end, that's what's first: Christ lived, died, and rose - for you, for me, for Mr. BrutallyHonest.org, and for whoever "they" are in your vocabulary. And for that, today, I'm grateful.
Rick,
You have a rather narrow and presumptious understanding of what my understanding of Scripture is. I've not given you enough information to make the leaps of logic that you've made. I've merely pointed to Scriptures that suggest to some that God isn't the flower child your narrowness makes him out to be.
Your presumption (and arrogance) then goes on to know with typical leftist premonition that my heart is cold and hate-filled merely because I have the audacity to see things in ways that you don't. Isn't that, Rick, a fundamentalist's way of looking at things?
And you think, rather narrowly, that my will ought to be conformed to what you believe to be the Gospel and what you define as the love of God... is there room in your theology for someone like me, a firm believer in Christ, in the Gospel, and in His love, to dismiss your perspective as that of one peddling a narrow ideology under the guise of what I see you defining as a rather exclusive Christianity?
Probably not... instead, I'm one who needs conversion, one who needs to be transformed, one who's will is apparently out of kilter...
And how is this different from ... oh... say... Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell?
-Rick
http://www.brutallyhonest.org
Thanks for your comments. Beautiful! That was my former professors point, Jesus moves so far beyond the "in" and the "out" and makes room at God's table for folks like me. Much of the talk from the church this election year has nothing to do with who and what Jesus was about and the Reign of God in this world. We are "saved" by God and not political leaders. That was Jesus' message as well. People wanted a powerful warlord to overthrow the oppressive government, and God came along in the form of Jesus on the back of an ass--only God could do that. There are days I just get on my knees and thank God for being God-- for pursuing me for no other reason than that is who God is. Yes, if God was going to hate anyone it would be me, but that isn't the face of God I see in Jesus Christ- thank God.
Dear Brutally Honest (the other Rick)
You are welcome here. I realize you have different views, but when you reduce to name calling and labels it makes it hard to hear you for you seem to be deeply afraid, as if you want to strike-out at someone. It just felt like by the tone and name calling that you were not attempting to dialogue. A good governing community would withhold your blogging privileges rather than blow you off the face of the map. I accept responsibility for my misunderstanding of your intent. I was confused about the scripture you quoted and thought you were suggesting that God hates. Please forgive me.
I recognize that many folks have deep passion surrounding the election.
Blessings,
Rick, a new life emerging
I LOVE Anne Lammott! And Traveling Mercies is one of my favorite books. And her "beautiful moment of converstion" has been formative in my life. http://www.sunburned.org/2003_10_01_archive.html#106626910779924124
I'd guess that James has been reading Brian McLaren.
My conversion experiences have come at higher costs as I continue my journey with Jesus. The end of my rope morphs a bit over time, but it always seems to be the target for cultivating deeper faith in me.
There was a great post I read recently at amylovesbooks, where a number of pastors were asked, "What is the most embarrassing thing about the church today?" Many pastors went on and on, but Amy's husband just said, "my name."
kind of like what you were talking about...
Chris
radiorebellion.typepad.com
great words emerging rick! :) my god hates injustice, people who hurt innocent people, people who judge others to be lacking... people like me, but the best part is that he loves me too! :)
there has to be another way, we need to find it. i blogged a bit on this today. i'm so jealous you got to meet anne. she's always my answer to the questions 'if you could have dinner with anyone...'
i'm trackin' with ya rick!
I seem to remember a quote from "Traveling Mercies" where Anne wrote that in her life she felt she had done things so bad that "it would make Jesus drink gin straight from the cat-dish." As a guy in recovery (and a cat owner) I both appreciate and understand that image completely...though I'm more than a little *green* that I don't get to hob-nob in *nearly* as high-falutin' circles as you do, brother.
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