Flyfishing the Curratuck Sound at Sunset
Mr. FixIt and I haven’t been to church in person since February. We really miss it, but online church has become our custom and we get up with great anticipation to hear another good sermon. When they first started attending live services, the pastor made some remarks that made us feel belittled for not attending in person. I sent a kind, well-worded message and asked that they please not ostracize those who choose to stay home due to underlying medical conditions that could make getting Covid a death sentence. The next weekend, the pastor spoke into the camera and welcomed us to online church and dubbed us the Warehouse Nation. Their online ministry has started drawing an audience from all over the world. It’s just a simple lesson…don’t shut people out. God’s using this time for HIS glory…not ours.
For the most part, I really love my home church. But there have been a couple of times that I have been put off by the pastor preaching politics from the pulpit. I have asked on my personal page if this is a common occurrence and I received some very good feedback. Unfortunately, the discussion quickly went off the rails and political policies and the heated emotions that attend them blew up. Most of the time I’ll cut that off, but this time I let it run its course and prayed till it blew over. That being said, I won’t do that here so let’s not even go there. I thought about writing another well worded note to the pastors, but didn’t. When it happened a second time, I almost said forget it…we’ll just find another church. But God kept whispering to my heart to hang on. He’s not just working on me. He’s working on everyone and He wanted me to be patient and give Him time to work. In other words, He wanted me to tend to my own knittin’, as my grandma used to say.
The other day, a young man who went to high school with Daughter #1 was on a thread I was was participating in. I know better than to read Facebook too late in the evening when I’m tired and fed up. A comment was made and I responded. Looking back, I can see where it came across as snarky. I was going to erase it, then vacation stuff took over and I totally forgot. That is, until I got the response from “John”. It was equally snarky. I typed a response…and erased it. Typed another…erased it. Another…cancelled. In my conversational tone, I said, “Ok, God…what are you saying here? What are you asking me to do?”
“Wait…I’m not done yet.”
Yesterday, our pastor delivered the sermon God wanted me to wait for. I don’t know if someone else sent a well-worded note, or if God was working on all of us, but our pastor walked us through the Fruits of the Spirit. Since when did we start hating each other for having a different political opinion? Since when did we decide it was ok to throw out the Golden Rule and go for the jugular every time someone says something that offends us? Granted…there ARE plenty of things to be legitimately offended over, but we shouldn’t be hateful over differences of opinion over politics. God is so much bigger than Trump or Biden or Covid.
The Fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Being our best self. I saw something the other day that gave me pause.
Kamala is beloved.
Donald is fearfully and wonderfully made.
Mike is cherished.
Joe is important enough that Jesus died for him.
Jesus sees us all through the same lens and God is our judge…not members of the opposing party. I can respect the office but not the policies and/or behavior of the person sitting in the chair. I can know who you vote for and still love you. Humans are capable of that.
This post isn’t about politics. This post is about love. God’s love for us. And the love He commanded us to practice toward Him and each other.
❤️
““Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.” All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40 CEV
Thank you! I welcome any and all “discussions”. I am trying HARD not to even mention a candidate name, but keep saying “look at what the candidate BELIEVES in, not in what you don’t like about the person.” I’ve never met any of the candidates. How can I hate them? I can despise their policies, though. In the last few races, I have chosen to vote within the first couple of days of early voting so when the conversations go south, I can just walk away. I would like the link to your online church, though. We love our church, but like you, sometimes the messages from the pulpit seem a little skewed. For instance, after the George Floyd uprising, the entire sermon seemed tslanted toward support of the BLM movement. Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe that Black Lives DO matter, but so do the lives of the others that the movement choses to destroy to push their point. BLM goes so much deeper than “black lives matter.” The Jesus that I love and try to serve died for ALL. I would love to hear your pastor’s point of view of sensitive matters.
Well, of course, I would have to agree with you. My point is, I am being ministered to about the Gospel and my political position, or anyone else’s, should not even be considered. I can read the news and form my political opinion. My pastor can proclaim biblical tenets and I can extrapolate from that and vote my conscience. However, my pastor should NOT be standing in the pulpit telling the congregation that “We can’t vote for Hillary, folks. She hates Christians, she kills babies, and she is straight from the devil!” THAT is totally unacceptable in my view. And I understand your views maybe different. That’s the great thing about America…diversity. Be well and be safe, dear one.
You can find The Warehouse Church Of Parkersburg, West Virginia on Facebook and YouTube.
Ok. I have heard this point made several times. I respect your opinion as I’m sure you respect mine. My point is that politics has invaded every area of my life so if churches can be shut down I can accept that politics and various opinions will show up in church also. I myself have found that most of the people I know that have raised this issue hold the opposite opinion from the pastor. Just what I see from where I sit.