The 19th century Danish philosopher, Søren  Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855) was an ardent critic of his Danish church.  He felt that the church had grown cold, lost is fervent connection to God and had very much become compromised by every day culture.     The following Kierkegaard quote has always challenged me.

I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark  and said, “If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me.” And I looked around and nobody was laughing.

Fortunately for us, we have given up on stained glass, satin bookmarks and velvet robes. Stodgy, boring worship services are a thing of the past.  But, we should not think we are any less ironic in our worship.  Now, if you are a happening church, you worship in a black box building with a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar lighting system that provides the perfect atmosphere for the perfect moment of worship.  Songs are beamed to multiple giant screens powerd by $80,000 video projectors.  The pastor arrives on stage on his Harley and we are entertained by the finest band money can buy.  And the pastor could replace Jay Leno on the Late Night Show with his polished monologue contributed to him by his host of writers/staff.

And we manage to do more with less.  We have less church and more family, or so we say.  We have vacation mission trips where we can see how the rest of the world lives and sing a few happy songs about Jesus for them.   Of course we worship God in the tree stand, the golf course, the infield stand at the ball game, and on the deck of the cruise ship.  We even fellowship with God’s people on Face Book and Twitter.  There is nothing like staying electronically connected–it is almost like being there.

But I smell a sense of irony here.  Just like the Danish church of the 19th century, we keep God at a distance by our very worship and daily practices.  We really don’t want to hear “sell all that you have, take up your cross and follow me.”  No, pastors still want to be superstars, and church members want to be free from God with no boundaries and still be sanctified.

And no one laughs.

According to the State of Missouri and the United States federal government, you may be a right- wing extremist if you meet any of the following criteria.

• You are a conservative
• You are a Republican
• You are a Libertarian (even worse than a Republican)
• You believe in gun ownership
• You own a gun
• You are anti abortion
• You oppose gay marriage
• You believe in smaller federal government
• You believe in states rights.
• You read the U. S. Constitution
• You cited the Bill of Rights in any conversation
• You listen to conservative talk radio
• You oppose more federal spending and increase in taxes
• You support the war on Terrorism
• You served in the military in Afghanistan or Iraq
• You think that Socialism and Marxism are enemies of democratic freedom
• You think the order should be dating, marriage and then the baby
• You go to church
• You love Jesus

This are just a few of the things that can get you labeled right wing extremist. This means that you are probably a member of a right-wing Militia and that you are plotting to overthrow the government. If you are what was once called normal, you are a danger to the new world order and may be subject to surveillance, censorship, a deprived of your basic civil rights. But, of course, you deserve it.   It is for your own good.  Remember Big Brother Knows Best.

There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,  A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A  false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.–Proverbs 6:16-19

Over the weekend I saw a Congresswoman from Georgia sharing her ideas about the current high prices of oil.  For some reason she wanted to open up the strategic oil reserves, says it will lower the price of gas by a few cents.  She has a woefully weak understanding of the problem, though, I am not sure anyone can fully explain what is going on.  When the interviewer pointed out that it would not make much of a difference, she replied, “that’s just an excuse.”  I could not out what it was an excuse for.

Another one of her comments caught my attention.  She said that in Georgia, people were leaving their SUVs on the side of the road, just walking away, because they could not afford the price of gas.  I find this hard to believe.  Georgia has a lot of prosperity as far as I can tell.  Isn’t Atlanta, the home of CNN, supposed the to be the Paris of the south?   I wonder if we drove the highways of Georgia, would we really see SUVs abandoned on the side of the road?

This weekend my wife and I got away for a few days.  We traveled across south Louisiana and south Mississippi to costal southern Alabama, not that far from Georgia.  These are not areas known for their extreme wealth.  Yet, I did not see one SUV abandoned by the side of the road.  No one came up to me and said, “ hey buddy, can you lend me a gallon of gas?”  It was quite the opposite.  It was bumper to bumper traffic all the way to Mobile.  I drove a leisurely 70 MPH (at which my Buick Lucerne will get 30 miles per gallon) while the rest of the traffic blew past me like I was sitting still.  If people were hurting because of high gas prices, they did not show it on I-10.  Instead, they were going as fast as they could so they could spend their money at the Tanger Mall in Foley, Alabama or roast to a crisp at Gulf Shores.

Now, are people happy to be paying $4.00 a gallon for gas?  Of course not.  But wouldn’t it be nice if politicians were a little more in touch with the people and not lie about the situation?  Ands wouldn’t it be nice to see some real action like drilling for oil instead of trying to use up Strategic reserves which are “reserved” for true emergencies?  Instead, we have whining about the oil companies making a profit (which is what oil companies do), the demand to open the strategic reserves and some in congress have suggested that we should nationalize our oil companies.  I think they are jealous of Hugo Chavez.  Think about the highly efficient ways of our federal government over the last fifty years, do we really want them to run the oil business?

But just in case the government decides to take over Exxon-Mobil, it might be time to invest in a highly fuel efficient mule and wagon.  It will probably be more reliable.

Jim Chester is a friend of mine.  It takes a lot of guts to admit that.  In this video Jim addresses a deep spiritual problem that is common among Baptists and other  denominations whose origins are in the rural south.

Please leave your complaints at http://www.jimchester.com/