Disgustingly Religious

Saying for the Day: Loving Jesus without loving others misses the gospel.

As we go to the artifact box we find a worn, paperback, copy of Luther’s Small Catechism.
It reminds of my first years of knowing that God loves me.

I came home from Bible Camp no longer an atheist.
Jesus was now my friend and my companion.
There was a new joy in my life.
This was the good part.

The bad part I suffered from New Christian Syndrome .
Or to put it another way I was disgustingly religious.

I was judgmental and sure that I was a real Christian and most of the other church members weren’t.

I joined a group of young people from the Church that had the same experience as me and the same attitude.
We saw our task as saving the church.
We strove to be Holy and we defined Holy.
We didn’t dance, smoke, drink or do “bad things” and we looked down on anybody who did.
We forgot that God saved us by his grace and not our goodness.
We were the chosen few.

My poor Mother didn’t know what to do with me during this time.
When I was really judgmental she would wait for me to do something stupid and then say” Is this the way a Christian acts”.
I would feel so guilty.
She kept hoping this “religious thing” would pass.

That’s where the small Catechism comes in. I paid no attention to it in confirmation but now it became an anchor that helped to hold me closer to the real Gospel .Here I was reminded that it was not by my reason or strength that I came to Jesus but the Holy Spirit called me through the Gospel. Here I was directed to St. Paul and his letters.
Little by little I learned how to walk with Jesus.
From the time of my Bible Camp experience I felt a call to the ministry. But my answer to God was that was not a possibility. I was shy beyond belief. I had no speaking ability. How I get beyond those I will look at next week.

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The town’s hired street cleaner was back on the job today. The streets are not nearly as well kept as when the youth group did them. Those pigeons can really make a mess.
Speaking of pigeons another one was found dead in the same place as the others. This one seems to have frozen to death. It was 85 in Pigeon Falls but the pigeon was frozen solid.
Mayor South called the Bishop in to her office to meet with the town attorney. The attorney showed the Bishop where the constitution allowed the town council to assess up to one mill for special needs. The main street certainly comes under that category. So it now looks like the entire crisis is over.
When the Bishop came out of the Town Hall he was stopped by Big Rudy who just came from the Fly Inn Tavern. Rudy asked if he was satisfied with all the trouble he had caused the town. The Bishop tried to ignore him but he held on to the Bishop’s arm. Then Big Rudy asked the Bishop where his wife was. At this point the good Bishop did a very unbishop like thing. He hauled back and socked Rudy. Big Rudy went down like a rock. That Bishop has quite a punch. They will be talking about this for years to come.
Nancy says that talk in her restaurant has switched from who did what to who planted what and how well is it growing. Everybody has an idea how to keep the deer out of the flowers (lion poop is highly recommended) and what flowers deer won’t eat.
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Today's link-The Real writer-Remember to put Dr. John in the comment. Winners of our first JC Points drawing are (big drum role) Cindy (The Contrary Christian)-32 blog explosion credits- Jafabrit (Jafabrit's Art)-60 blog explosion credits- Peter ( Linna's Minute) - Somerthing of equal value to a blog explosion credit. Peter's name was drawn second but because he is a relative and we didn't even want the appearance of cheating we drew a third name as well. The blog explosion credits have already been awarded. Next week's prize is a genuine(sort of) Doctor's Degree from Theological University Online.
You can see your JC points by clicking on the JC Points update link on the left.
Today we began to really work on the amusement park. Betty put one of the Ferris wheels out on the layout. We then worked on the little kids part of the park. It is now designed and three of the fences to go around it are done. We also finished the creek bed which we hope to put in tomorrow. Betty has gone to Bible study and I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA