Undoing the work of many

Dear friends and enemies,

While perusing facebook this morning I noticed I have many people I should delete as soon as I can muster the courage to do so. The people with whom need a serious deletion are those who seem to be preaching the "good word". What that might be is up for question. In their eyes, they see the "good word" as the teachings of Jesus, or the Jesus they believe to be true for them. This is the same Jesus who did a lot of things that were outside of religion and dogmatic principles. Sadly, this is not the same Jesus they are talking about. Their Jesus is a jackass.

Apparently, us crazy people outside the evangelical churches don't really understand Jesus anymore. He's not the same guy from the early days of "Jesus loves me this I know." That Jesus was cool. He was a good guy. He was a guy I would have liked to hang out with. This Jesus sucks. He has been morphed, by the people I know and countless others speaking about the "good word," into a jackass who parades around children yelling "SING THIS!"...

"Jesus loves me! this I think...maybe...I guess
For the Bible tells me so in certain versus I pick and choose.
Little ones to Him belong;
they are weak but He is strong and mean and vindictive.

Yes, Jesus loves me! Thank God I am white!
Yes, Jesus loves me! Thank God I am straight!
Yes, Jesus loves me! Thank God I am rich!
The Bible tells me so, all others will go to Hell!"

I can hear the crowds cheering now. I bet Billy Graham would love these lyrics. It's sad, but this is where we are now. I see postings about people asking for prayer because they are traveling down to build a house for people who have not found Jesus. Seriously? That is your criteria? Need is not your first worry? I wonder how they set these things up. Do they offer to build a house for the family if they are willing to surrender their lives over to Jesus? Is that in the deed? Do you have to be a Christian for 4 years before you are able to relinquish and pick a new religion? If you don't make that 4 year mark, is another family given the house? Are you doing this for personal gain or ego? Do you really care about the family, or are you just trying to strengthen your army of minions who think the same way you do?

You know why I am not evangelical? No! Not because I am gay. The reason is that I am too tired to be evangelical. I am married, with a dog, trying to finish my dissertation. I can barely run my own life. I don't have the energy to try and run other people's lives. That would be exhausting. "Hey honey, do you want eggs on your breakfast sandwich today? Oh yeah, and by the way, can you put me on a conference call with the pack of gay snowboarders I saved in Colorado...I need to make sure they are having sex with women now. Thanks honey!" I would be stressed before breakfast. I couldn't do that. I think I will stick with talking/teaching about leaving other people alone. It's why I love teaching history. Class is all about people who didn't leave each other alone, started trouble with them, got their asses kicked, left with a bad legacy, and then tried to do it all over again. I can teach about that all day. That doesn't stress me out at all. Controling history and the evolution of humanity would be exhausting. Teaching without try to control is very easy. Teaching while trying to control...holy mother of God, no way. I can barely control my laundry schedule, let alone humanity and personal and cultural evolution. "Hey honey, can you bring your laundry out to the washer? While you are at it, can you stop people wanting rights they don't have? Thanks! Love you!" Exhausting.

I think preaching the "good word" is preaching about the actual "GOOD WORD." Jesus was a pretty interesting guy. I think his band of rebel forces was quite interesting. He never restricted himself to one community. He always traveled and got to know people. He was a guy who liked to help people. He talked about love a lot. I mean, the guy was a huge hippie. I am down with that. The word that is "good" is one that doesn't misrepresent, nor box someone in. How can churches talk about Jesus turning over the tables of commerce and then make billions of dollars selling Jesus inventory in the church? How can we talk about loving everyone, and then pick and choose who really gets the love depending on what life they lead? Trying to control humanity anyone? Screw that. If you can answer those questions above then I will give you a gold star. For now, I am going to go back to doing laundry and taking a nap. I am tired. I need a nap before I teach the "good word" on my end. I have a lot of good words; sleep, love, hope, faith, togetherness, evolution, justice....you get the drift. You see where I am going, don't you?

Jesus, I am sorry people make you out to be a jackass. We know you were a cool hippie who wasn't white. We know you liked the people who were on the fringes. Those people who are saying otherwise are not cool. They suck. Let's go hug a tree together and talk on the mount. What do you say?

Happy Monday,

Stacy