As of 10:30 pm EST, the Unitarian Universalist Congegation of Atlanta became the largest congregational Facebook group, beating out All Souls Tulsa (#2) and All Souls DC (#3) with 184 186 191 members and rising. I needn’t point out that we’re the smallest congregation of the three, by a long shot.
We are the champions!
Special thanks to Tim and a youther for helping put us over the top!
Tomorrow I wear my Cowboy Victory Hat of Victory and Winning to work. I trust that you will do the same, as is only right and proper.
I’ve surprised myself by how dedicated a reader of Internet Monk I’ve become of late. That means both of my favorite Christian bloggers—Real Live Preacher being the other—are Southern Baptist ministers. I told you I’m surprised.
Yesterday, iMonk posted what reads to me like a defense of the Christian doctrine of universalism. It’s brilliant, and any UU should give it a read. UUs who don’t use god-talk might not find it as engaging as I do, but it’s a good reminder that universalism has strong Biblical support, even if most other Southern Baptist ministers would tell you otherwise.
iMonk always gets good comments, and the discussion quickly turns to sin. Sin, some of his readers would have it, is a real problem for God. He’s quite hung up on it, it turns out. Can’t see past it, even. So much so that he has to be tricked into forgiving humanity, on a case by case basis, by torturing and killing his Son instead of us.
A god hindered by sin is an unusual character. Mythology is engaging and entertaining precisely because the gods are hindered—by each other and by us—but it is usually because of some specific god or some specific person, and because of some specific actions taken, not because of a general case like all-sin-everywhere.
Their God is a superhero with a fatal weakness. It is as though Superman has added omni-benevolence to his super powers and now has the power to grant everyone eternal life in Heaven. But in an unfortunate turn of events Sin has replaced Kryptonite as his one weakness.
He writhes under the effect of Sin, unable to use his new power of omni-benevolence in the presence of a sinner. The only thing that can set things right is for him to set up Superboy—disguised as a non-superhero—to be tortured and killed on our behalf so that, now, whenever the use of his omni-benevolence is restricted by Sin, Superman can rub the blood of Superboy on sinners and make it all better. (Superboy blood is magic! Tell your family and friends!) Superboy blood is made available planet-wide so that people can douse themselves in it and thereby unhinder Superman in his quest to embody truth, justice, and the American way.
I don’t get Calvinism or substitutionary atonement theory. Their devotees don’t realize how hindered a God they worship. For being all-sovereign, he certainly can’t get much god stuff done without a lot of torture and tears and blood.
The New York Times had a nice article Saturday on the health problems of ministers. Some extended quotes:
“It’s a personality trait that accompanies the sense of divine calling,” said Mr. Hickle, 58, who has been the pastor at Fairmont United Methodist Church in Raleigh for 19 years. “You’re feeding your need to be liked, your need to be valued, your need to be needed.”
The Rev. H. Gray Southern, who oversees 91 Methodist churches in the Durham area as a district superintendent, echoed the point.
“The tendency of clergy, for the best of reasons, is to be self-effacing, to take care of others before taking care of yourself,” Mr. Southern said. “You’re the ‘suffering servant,’ you’re the ‘wounded healer.’ It’s hard to set boundaries.”
Such worries are more than merely anecdotal.
While medical studies in various denominations indicate that clergy members live longer than comparable civilians, an emerging body of evidence over the last two decades has shown that ministers are more vulnerable to diabetes, depression, hypertension, gastrointestinal distress and heart problems.
[…]
“The tendency of clergy, for the best of reasons, is to be self-effacing, to take care of others before taking care of yourself,” Mr. Southern said. “You’re the ‘suffering servant,’ you’re the ‘wounded healer.’ It’s hard to set boundaries.”
[…]
“What’s probably true for a great percentage of preachers is that we’re all people-pleasers,” one minister said, generating both murmurs of assent and knowing laughter, according to the transcript. “I know there’s preachers out there that aren’t people-pleasers, but I haven’t met any of them. And so that inherently creates anxieties. You can’t please everybody, and you’ve got that anxiety to cope with.”
If you’re not familiar with Mark Driscoll—an indie rock, cussing, tattoo-friendly, traditional gender roles, Calvinist, jumbotron Seattle pastor—you should be.
