The enemy is not the church that has been secularized, but the modernist state and its advocates that has with a passive aggressiveness managed to present their ideology as “natural”. More accurately, this (w)rant is a means of penance for how deeply I have been formed by this cultural situation from which I need delivered so that I might live a holy life, acceptable to God, my reasonable service.
Ah yes, what is “natural”. The Bush -team credo like sto call this “common sense”. What is “common sense” usually is synonomous with whatever gives unfettered capitalism the most free reign.
As we go on (w)ranting, we will have to discover how this moralism is a distortion, perversion of the ethics of the church, that has become very indistinguishable from the life of the church. It shows the difficulty that we must embrace to regain a language of holiness and sanctity that is much, much more true, beautiful, and good than the moralism described by Smith that dictates so much of my life.
Yes, it has become very much indisitingusihable from the kind of “Christian” society wants us to be. And in most churches, this is what rules. It rarely is compared to any kind of radical notion of friendship, discipleship, or relationship. It is all about being “pleasant”; and that usually translates for most people into being “so thankful” for “our freedoms” here in America. Thiis is a major reason why I DIDN”T go to church anywhere yesterday. I think I would vomit if I heard a preacher say that. Of course, if I knew of a place where they take the life of discipleship and Christian community and CALL seriously, I woudl be there in a second.
I’m going to try to put together a pilgrimage for the Fall Break week for the family, and most preferrably to the DC area, so I can visit with some people of the Church of the Saviour and friends who live in that area. Maybe take an East coast route due East of here to the Carolina coast, and then up into DC and back to Cincinnati. That’s the outline. That’s for the first week in October. We’ll see how it might come together.
Thanks John, for the (W)rant!
