tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905342.post5767526070931477602..comments2023-09-25T03:59:29.942-05:00Comments on barefoot bohemian: ~ not the vapors of a melancholy mind ~Kimberlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11775023211592319658noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905342.post-25272158647144860492008-03-27T11:21:00.000-05:002008-03-27T11:21:00.000-05:00Just reading that verse from John unlocked a pair ...Just reading that verse from John unlocked a pair of cuffs that I didn't even realize I had on. Thank you for sharing scripture. <BR/><BR/>The church is a hard family to be born into. Some of my hardest struggles have come from being kin (as we say in Alabama) to other believers. <BR/><BR/>I think that if we were to use that definition of liberty, which is awesome, by the way, in regard to where the Spirit of the Lord is, we would have to say that that sort of liberty is the right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of GOD's own choosing. God chooses so much differently than I do.Amberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08483384641642681476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905342.post-40339640941120645782008-03-27T10:17:00.000-05:002008-03-27T10:17:00.000-05:00I'm sure I'll share this story in more detail as I...I'm sure I'll share this story in more detail as I continue in the "abandoned places" series, but here's the short version:<BR/><BR/>The summer I worked in Hermitage (with all Hispanic-Catholic and African-American families)we had a group from a white, rural Southern Baptist church come in to do a VBS (required, as we worked for the state convention). During debriefing on the first day, I did a short "cultural competency" training on their music selection. <BR/><BR/>Refraining from questioning the presence of patriotic songs in a worship gathering, I focused solely on their paticular choice of songs, "My Country Tis of Thee". I explained that the kids we were working with were all either children of migrant farm workers or former slaves ("their" side of town was still referred to as "the quarters"), and that when we sing about the "land where my father's died, land of the pilgrim's pride..." it has a completely different meaning (or no meaning at all).<BR/><BR/>That's when I realized how different my background was from other people who resembled me in so many ways. The pastor took me back in my office and laid into me about how it was not my place to tell his volunteers what to do, and if I have issues I need to come to him first, and this are children and there is nothing wrong with that song.<BR/><BR/>Civil Religion? Never heard of it. :)Kimberlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11775023211592319658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905342.post-31995193215097716852008-03-27T10:09:00.000-05:002008-03-27T10:09:00.000-05:00I can't help but read the words "Let us dare to re...I can't help but read the words "Let us dare to read, think, speak and write," without passionate and sinfully sarcastic thoughts welling up in my soul. <BR/><BR/>Because of the strong associations I have with the word "liberty", my first read of Adams' speech is with the Church in mind. In my pentecostal background, liberty meant something much different than your definition. Often embraced without knowledge, it did indeed produce little of value. But if your definition is superimposed onto the scripture that was so often taken badly out of context to justify charismatic disruptions of God's order, then we get a powerful statement: <I>"Now the Lord is Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is [the right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing]."</I> <BR/><BR/>You have dared to read, think, speak and write. Regardless of whether your voice is/isn't heard by those who need to listen, please don't stop!<BR/><BR/>On a different note, may my spirit and that of other followers of Jesus be ever willing to read and recollect and impress upon our souls the fortitude, sufferings, patience and resignation demonstrated by countless servants who relinquished the comforts of this world to labor among the unreached that those peoples might also share this peculiar hope of liberty that we have.<BR/><BR/>BTW, this is the first time I have figured out how to properly use HTML tags! Finally! :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6905342.post-27558078636467186792008-03-26T23:04:00.000-05:002008-03-26T23:04:00.000-05:00For all my problems with the underbelly of America...For all my problems with the underbelly of American history, and with the vehemence that I condemn calling the founders of the USA "forefathers" and according them religious devotion, it is very easy to read their writing and get swept up into the positive side of the ideals they espouse. <BR/><BR/>It's like reading Scripture, and I guess that's exactly what it is to the American civil religion. And oh how much easier to adhere to that Scripture and believe that education alone can truly liberate us though we use it to destroy our brothers and sisters and wreak havoc on the environment.Ramónhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07246593554520870227noreply@blogger.com