Apparently some areas of the Online Commentariat (and yeah, I know, their opinions are worth no more, and perhaps, in some people's cases, are worth less, than mine) are talking about the whole Pete Buttigieg thing.
I haven't taken a deep dive into his politics as yet so I'm not sure what all his platforms are, but he seems like an individual with a sense of humor about things (and who doesn't seem to take himself too seriously) and what little I've seen of him I feel like he's maybe...kind of refreshing as a politician? Oh, I could change my mind tomorrow about that when I look into what he's promoting as political positions, but for now...I don't know that I'd want him as President (partly I don't know enough) but he does seem to be less-bluster and less-loudness than some politicians and that automatically makes me more inclined to listen.
but the big thing people are talking about is the fact that he is (a) an Epsicopalian and (b) a married gay man. And some people are kinda losing their stuff about this. (Edited to clarify: I don't mean other practicing Christians; I have not see that much said. I mean people who are, perhaps what one might call "culturally Christian" in that they celebrate Christmas but don't really belong to a church, or, it seems I've seen more from people who seem to be positioning themselves as hostile to religion. And in the second case I get a sense of "why aren't these people I am prejudiced against behaving in ways in line with my prejudices?")
(Pssst: there are some Christian denominations that have decided, as Buttigieg himself has alluded to, the idea of "what exactly is homosexuality and what does it mean in the context of what some Bible passages said, and is it a choice" is "above our pay grade" and that our job is to love people regardless of who they are. The church I belong to has sort of revived itself by opening its doors to people who are gay. And yeah, personally, I don't care who someone sleeps with [provided of course, it's a whole consenting-adults situation] provided I don't have to hear detailed discussion of it, and that applies to both straight and gay relationships)
But anyway, some folks on Twitter seem to be claiming that it's somehow scandalous to not ostracize people who are different in that particular way if you are a Christian.
I dunno. The topic came up obliquely at CWF last night and someone mentioned "it's kind of the current generation's 'interracial marriage'" and while I can also see the differences, yeah, I have heard of 80 years ago or so some people using various Scripture passages to argue against that. Or to argue against things like even a Catholic person marrying someone who was Protestant.Shoot, I've even seen anti-Catholic sentiment around here, still, in 2019, which kind of breaks my brain as I have good friends who are Catholic, and one whole branch of my family is (one of my cousins went through the discernment process to become a priest, even. Decided he wasn't suited for it and in fact he got married to a girlfriend of years ago just recently...)
But I really hope this doesn't lead to people who don't know anything much about Christianity (but think they do) think they can dictate to those of us who are actively practicing it whether or not we're doing it "right." (Heh. It's like "mansplaining," only in a faith context). I mean, yeah, maybe I'm "not doing it right," and I don't always get it right even if I do some times, but....at least I THINK about it, you know?
I've been pretty open in recent years about the fact that I am a practicing Christian. My particular flavor of that is Disciples of Christ. I grew up in that denomination. What I like about it is its willingness to do "different" things (one of the first denominations to ordain women - and in fact, I was baptized by a woman minister). I also love that we do the eucharist every Sunday, that it is kind of the centerpiece of worship. I like our openness in that we *encourage* kids who grow up in the church to wait until they're young teens for baptism - so they can make the choice and understand why they are - but that we will also:
- openly accept people who were baptized as infants but don't wish to be rebaptized
- make arrangements (in some congregations) to do SOMETHING for someone who might not (because of profound physical challenges) be able to do the immersion baptism - I suspect in my congregation we'd figure out a way to do sprinkling, if the person were able to do that
- re-baptize as adults people who were baptized as children but don't remember it and want to, or people who have had a real "new leaf" experience and want to symbolize that new life
- baptize as adults people who were never baptized as children
I suspect we'd also welcome the membership of someone who had no wish to be baptized, though in recent years, everyone I know who's joined as an adult has wanted the baptism. We don't see it so much as anything....magical....but more as something symbolic; where you are going to a little bit of effort on your part (Immersion is scary; I found it a little scary at 13) to make a public statement that "I am throwing my lot in with this group because I think being with them is better than trying to go it on my own"
I like that we're encouraged to interpret scripture on our own, and that we need not accept things as literally-as-they-were-written. (Many biology teachers I have known who were Christian were some flavor of mainline Protestant, or were Catholic - because most Mainline churches don't have an issue with evolution, and I believe it was John Paul II who wrote a whole encyclical talking about what SJ Gould called "the different magisteria")
And most of the denominations I've been in? The people have been very friendly. They've been good at accommodating people of different political attitudes, different social attitudes. The idea that we're supposed to love everyone even if we might not agree with them. (I am fairly sure there are still some people in my congregation who aren't 100% comfortable with gay people, but they still love the people they know who are)
We also tend to do a lot of socializing around the dinner table - potlucks are a regular feature (we try to have one once a month) and we also feed a group of college kids every week. And outreach is a big thing. (Even though we are small, we have done Meals on Wheels a lot. And we've collected funds for specific disaster-relief programs - we sent money to a church in Texas City after Hurricane Harvey and they actually turned around after they recovered somewhat and started helping other churches and people in that area). We've been involved in some hunger-relief programs and will probably be involved with the local homeless shelter once it gets started.
But anyway. I love my particular congregation. Oh, we are small, we always have money trouble. Sometimes we have disagreements. Or we have people who complain about stuff but don't really make any moves to get those things fixed. But I love the people in it.
And so when I see people that I don't know much about (i.e., they don't seem to have any particular religious credentials) dragging all or a big part of Christianity, I get annoyed. I get annoyed in the way I'd get annoyed if I had a little sister and I was an older teen and I found out kids were bullying her.
Someone on Twitter apparently alluded to the more-evangelical branches of Christianity in re: the whole "Buttigieg has a same-sex marriage AND he's an Episcopal" and seemed to refer to evangelicals as "orthodox Christianity" and I admit that got my hackles up.
Because there IS an actual "Orthodox" Christianity - there's regular Orthodox (they have a church in Denison), there's Greek Orthodox (there was one just on the edges of the campus at University of Akron that had excellent Gyros Lunches on Thursdays as a fundraiser), there are other Eastern Orthodox (many of them Slavic/Russian) churches. No, I don't know what their stances and positions are. But they do not equal the evangelical arm of Protestantism, not in any way.
(Confession: after the church split here, when things looked really bad and like the congregation here might close, I considered maybe visiting the Orthodox church in Denison and starting the process of conversion. Now I think I'd be more inclined to jump over to the Presbyterian church here in town....but there is still something in me that craves the very high-church trappings that remind us that faith is different from the silly mundanity of the world)
(And heterodoxy does not necessarily mean heresy)
But yeah. I am apprehensive that we're gonna see a big wave of people who either aren't that knowledgeable about the different "flavors" of Christianity, or who are outright hostile to the idea of people having faith, making their opinions very....intrusive...in the coming months and guys, I am so not up for that. I'm also not up for a more anti-Christian stance in our culture, but I am fearful we may have to be buckling in for that.
For me, my faith does two big things:
- It reminds me that the silly mundanity of the world is not the only thing, and that what the World says is important (fame, money, looks....) really isn't, that there's a better way...a way of kindness and love and sometimes, yeah, self-sacrifice
- It tells me how I should live my life. Full stop. I figure for other people it's up to them to find their paths in this life but for me, this path works; when I can stay on it I'm happier and less prone to listen to those who tell me I'm wasting my life because I didn't push to become a surgeon, or because I'd rather spend my time trying to help students than "scraping 'em off, Claire" and all of that. And it reminds me a lot of times to take a deep breath and stop being angry at the person I am angry with, because that person is in some way fighting a hard battle too, and sometimes when a person is scared or worried or stretched to their limit, they are not at their best, just as I am not when I am scared or worried or overtired, and that a little grace and a little mercy go a long way. (And that hopefully, those who show grace will have grace shown to them: I had a couple students stop by on Friday afternoon over my near-meltdown at myself over copying the wrong exam to be sure I was "okay," and I suspect that's because I've shown a bit of forebearance when they forgot to bring their lab right on time (and I sighed, and said, "Drop it off at my mailbox when you come in tomorrow morning").
And this also has led me to come to my decision about my giving-after-not-spending much in Lent:
Most to my denomination's Week of Compassion (which I have spoken of before)
Some to the local Special Olympics, because I've been meaning to support them for a while
And some to the local RSVP senior center, which is trying to raise funds to buy a decommissioned church to turn into a new facility to replace their greatly worn and outmoded one - and the new facility would be in a location more convenient for many people, and also close to where many of the doctors in town have their offices.
That last, I should try to drop off a check today: apparently if they don't raise enough by the end of the month, there is a competing bidder (I don't know who) for the church, and they will lose that opportunity. They do good work, largely on a shoestring, and I know the version of RSVP where one of my grandmothers lived helped her a lot towards the end of her life. So it's time for me to pay back, in a way.
No comments:
Post a Comment