May You Live in Interesting Times

[katster]

the difference between being
on the bottom or the top
is you fight for what you have
they fight for what you've got
If what you have is what they want
They'll make the laws then break them
They see money there and make 'em
they don't understand...

Spirit of the West, "Homelands"

The latest obsession, it seems to fit some of the rumination going on in my head at the moment.

---

Fire and Brimstone

So I went to my grandma's christmas play tonight. At her church.

You know where this is going, don't you?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I managed to find a play that told the Christmas story in a way that involved hellfire and brimstone. Well, it was written by one of the church members, and my grandmother's church is very -- well, Charismatic. They're the folks who are buying the Left Behind books. It probably really shouldn't have been a surprise that their Chrismas play would involve hellfire and brimstone, but it did. It was shocking and mind-numbing in its horror. Between bringing in the sado-masochistic parts of the Easter story (yes, that's the only part they chose to bring out of the Easter story, the exquisite pain and torture Our Lord went through to save us measly groveling pathetic humans -- the resurrection was glossed over in the narrative) and the passive-aggressive revenge fantasies that incorporate Judgement Day, they completely wrecked any of the glory and the power that the Christmas story has. Augh!

Now, of course, I can deal with most of this. It's mainly a matter of sitting there and watching, and we're there to support Grandma's acting debut, right? I don't argue religion with the fundies because it's a waste of time. But the part that really infuriated me (well, beyond the factual errors, like Jesus saying "My friend Paul" when Paul of Tarsus lived after Jesus died and the fact that the faith v. works controversy was played up -- when their own beloved New Testament contradicts itself on this point) is at the end. The play was over and their damned pastor (okay, well, he's probably not damned in that sense, but still...) steps up and says, "If you know Jesus, stand up."

So, I ask you, my readers, what a good Unitarian and a good Episcopalian supposed to do? (jillcaligirl's the Episcopalian; I'm the Unitarian. This probably isn't a surprise.) We both stood, even though neither of us wanted to, because there's certain social graces one has to keep in mind, and one of those is simply "Don't embarrass your grandma." And Grandma was standing right there, anxiously watching the audience, and I cultivate the "good Christian girl" act for that side of the family, so I stood. It was a lie. I don't know Jesus in the sense he meant it. (Well, on second thought, I do. When I was younger, I went to that church, and I bought wholeheartedly into the "pray to be saved" -- so I did it repeatedly as a kid. Wonder if that'll save me in their theology now?)

Although. "Yeah, I knew Jesus. He played on my baseball team. Man, that guy could hit, but he couldn't catch a ball to save his life and got caught stealing more often than not..." Mmmm, irreverence. But I'm getting sidetracked. Yeah, that little stunt made me angry. That and having us pray for the cast, since to do proper hellfire and brimstone, you have to get somebody to portray the devil and unrepentant sinners, and this could give room for the Evil One to attack. Yeah. Wow. It was just over the top.

There's such a thing as preaching to the choir, and man did this production do that in *spades*.

---

The second thing that happened this evening...I want to still process. I'm not sure what to make of it.

But for those of you who were either around in #spork or I've talked to in the past about my family history (ameth, I'm thinking of you in particular here), I talked to the man whom without my mother wouldn't exist. And by extension, therefore, Jill and I wouldn't exist. And that's all I have to say about that at the moment, except for that it went much better than I was expecting.

But I'm going to bed now, waiting for stickyness in my head to process some more. Still haven't gotten any writing done, but nor did I expect especially sticky things to strike. Off to bed for me.

Comments

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

I am SO sorry! That's horrible. Typical of Paulists... but horrible. ::shudder::

[archangelbeth]

And people wonder why I used to be just a teeny bit edgy about Christianity, considering that my grandfather was on the fundie side...

(Though I'm less annoyed by Paul since daegaer explained that a chunk of the Paul-attributed letters contradict each other and the seriously misogynistic ones are thought to be written by someone else. Which doesn't excuse people who buy into them, mind... Eugh.)

I'm glad that the ancestor(?)-speaking was not horrible.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Yeeeuck!!
It's little things like that play that make me wish I really could summon one of the Elder Demon-Lords of Crowley fame, and introduce them to some real hellfire and brimstone...

Well either that or rig enough special effects to make it look like I did !! Flood the church with H₂S and a really, really convincing suit... and see how fast it clears the place !
[oh, and make sure to tell them you're here for the pastor!]

Oh well, you have more tolerance than I.

[tanesmuti.livejournal.com]

Well... now didn't you just have one hell of an interesting day? ;)

One thing about family history, unless you're there to see it unfold for yourself, is that the characters tend to become more colorful in the telling. And people change, so things going better than expected, aren't that much of a suprise to me. Plus when you throw in perception on a personal level, things can turn out far differently than expected. However, it's just one meeting. I expect this is going to be swirling around in your head for a while. :P

[http://users.livejournal.com/killjoy_/]

... well, that's a take on the whole thing I'd have never considered.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

That's a novel take... although I suppose the Incarnation story has inherently a slightly foreboding forshadowing (God accepts limits, child born for future sacrifice, that sort of thing), to hear that faint background discord be flipped-around and become the dominant theme is strange. Kind of like merging Christmas and Lent... (shakes head).

IMO, you two took the best course in standing... they're effectively asking their members if they feel that they're in good spiritual standing. Since you aren't part of their congregation, you get to use the standards and belief structure of your own faith to determine this (UU, Episcopalian, whatever...), not whether you agree with that fundie sect's definitions.

Hmmm...

[lirazel.livejournal.com]

Amusingly, I recall having the flip side reaction to yours at a UU "Christmas" celebration--all about light and the return of the Sun and cute babies and nothing about sacrifice or redemption or the awesomeness of God in the meat (why, what did you *think* "incarnate" meant?)... just this mushy bland we're all nice and so the world is nice and we don't need any help here because we're all so nice...

So, I told my then father-in-law that it was very nice, but that I didn't think Christmas without a little bit of Easter was much of a Christmas. His response? "But Easter's not until April!" Talk about two trains on different tracks...

But yeah... my church now has a fundie Brazilian church renting space from us. I met one of the children from their Sunday School early one morning and the first words out of his mouth after his name were, "Do you know Jesus?" And then he started telling me about the gruesome parts of Revelation. He was eight.

And you know, it always amuses me how the people who are the most savidity-saved of the Saved are the ones who worry most about being attacked by the Evil One. I mean, for Christ's sake, you're SAVED! Grow a spine, already! Have a little confidence in The Man, for a change, and don't depend on how fervently you feel for your security.

::huggle:: Someday, somehow, we'll all wake up. And I can promise you, there'll be some big surprises about who's on the right hand and who's on the left...

[salinn.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I would have stood too, and I'm not really into Jesus as a saviour, but the reason I would have stood in a church like that is because if you don't stand, you get persecuted. And not the persecuted by stoning or getting beaten or all that stuff from way back when, but persecuted by the glares and horrific looks from the audience that "oh-my-goodness-you-didn't-learn-better-from-that-play" kind of deal. Which I guess is the fundemental problem, the minority of a place doesn't want to stand for something (errr...sit for something) that goes against the norm of the situation. At least, I don't.

I used to be better about it in college, but even then, in a Lutheran college choir that used to visit other churches and perform, we were invited to take communion - and being one of maybe 5 members out of 50 who didn't go down and take it...you were looked upon poorly in some of those churches, even, and those weren't even fundies...

I guess I've stopped sticking to my guns, recently. I'd rather give up than talk politics or religion anymore, no one changes their minds about anything anyway...

[vacheestfachee.livejournal.com]

blergh... I'm so sorry you had to endure that. I'm charismatic, sorta, but I've been beat up by people who believe that THERE ARE DEVILS EVERYWHERE!!!1!`!~ and God is all about destruction if you don't follow all the (*ahem* extra-biblical) rules just so (and all the other fun things they come up with. Yuck. I hate it when people make the Church and the Bible something they aren't (supposed to be) because they refuse to understand God's love. I hate seeing the faith I share degraded, turned into something it isn't, bled of what gives it its power.

*sigh* So I hope you're no worse for the wear. *hugs*

[spitgirl.livejournal.com]

Dang. Can I repeat that again? Dang.

As a playwright, I am appalled.

As a Christian, I am appalled.

Egads.