Locked Away from Christ - Parte Seconda

This subject pisses me off so much I felt it required a bit more bloviating than normal.  I went out after the "street feed" yesterday to see the church being used as a homeless shelter at night.  Not to my surprise, it was locked up tight and had one of those real estate agent key safes on the handle so only those with the combination could enter. 

 

Well, you see, the church is a vault full of valuable "things" that God must demand for it to have on hand, for some reason.  It brings nothing to the worship; none of it feeds the poor, although it does offer bragging rights about how rich your church is.  It has been this way since not long after Christ died on the cross.  It's a good thing too; Christ wouldn't have stood for it.  He threw the money changers out of the temple.  He asked those who would follow his path to give up worldly things.  These "bragging rights" equate to selling religion, and it also equates to pridefulness.  I'm sorry.  I thought we were supposed to be humble before God.  My bad! 

 

I talk quite a bit about the Islamic heretics that embarrass their religion by re-interpreting the Qur'an for their own agenda, yet I can't help but accuse the Christian hierarchy of their own heretical behavior, behavior that has been going on since before the founding of Islam, so let's not go tooting the moral Christian horn too soon until we start selling the Vatican art collection to feed, cloth, house and educate the poor.

 

I have challenged the priests and ministers before, and I will continue to do it until I see a change in their behavior.  I want to see them downtown in full "uniform" so we can see them in action.  If the church wants to change the world view, let them start there.  I have a feeling that if more people could see the pious doing a bit more "one on one" in public, the public might just climb on the band wagon.  I would love to see a young priest in a park talking to some kids and relating Christian values to some real issues.  I would stop to listen.  I would interact.  Maybe it would turn into a weekly event in the park for him.  Beats a church any day, and its real!  It would be "in your face" discussion of beliefs and expectations, of values and desires.  Hell, the young priest might learn more in a day than he would in a lifetime.

 

The argument against this tact is going to be that the clergy is busy doing other work, like giving comfort to those in the hospital.  Well, I hate to be cold and heartless but, if they haven't found God by then, too late.  The clergy should have caught them earlier, or maybe the dying should have repented when they had the chance.  If they want to repent now all they have to do is look to God and accept Christ.  Isn't that the refrain sung by evangelists?  So if this is true, then clergy has ample time to devote to those sinners with plenty of life left to change for the betterment of mankind. 

 

And there is always the excuse of having to make time for listening to everyone's dirty little secrets in confession.  I love the screen between the priest and the confessing parishioner; like he doesn't know who this person is.  If you are truly repentant, God already knows.  Telling a priest isn't proving anything to God, and the priest isn't going to get you into heaven, only you can do that.  Try talking directly to God for forgiveness; the priest should be worrying about his own less than laudable behavior.

 

I could go on, but I think you get the gist of my personal displeasure with locking the doors to places of worship.  Give me a simple stone church, an altar of hand hewn wood, and a simple cross on the wall.  If someone steals it, God bless them, they must need it more than the church.  If they are caught in the theft, ask them if they are hungry as well, and feed them.  This is the message of Christ.

 

Of course, I could be wrong but, only a member of the clergy would probably think so.