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Acts of God

September 04, 2005

ph_apr_alone.jpg
picture from the shores of the chesapeake bay in april

One of the big ideas driving this blog is an ongoing practice of finding beauty. Over the past weeks, it's been more difficult than usual to do so. First, my step grandmother died, followed by the death of my beloved cat. Then, Pat Robertson, in his infinite wisdom, proclaimed we should assasinate a leader of another country (which I just couldn't ignore) and then THE STORM hit, and the levee broke, and we all watched as our fellow citizens in the gulf died before our eyes on the television. We watched looting, heard of raping and gunfire. It takes very little time for the worst in us to emerge in a crisis, and sadly, it took much longer for our relief efforts to kick into gear. Much, much longer than anyone could have expected. We're all dumbfounded, shocked and angry ~ a half a million people are now evacuated and homelss in America. Not from terrorism, but because of nature. It's humbling, isn't it?

So, I'm trying to find something beautiful to focus on in the midst of a terribly ugly situation. Sometimes, you have to look really hard. Sometimes you have to create beauty where there is none.

I hit a blog, I don't remember which one, where spiritually inclined people were posting comments about what others were saying in the religious community. Sadly, I wasn't surprised by the ugliest thing I've encountered while this drama has unfolded... christians saying this was an Act of God. (I used a lower-case "c" for a reason.) Words like HOLY WRATH, and SINNERS, and SODOM and GOMORRAH were hurled through cyberspace in a way that made me want to hurl on the spot as I read them. One person said he didn't feel sorry for anyone down there because New Orleans was full of sin and iniquity, "they deserved it," is how he lovingly put it. When I posted a comment asking where the command to "love your neighbor" entered into this scenario, I was promptly rebutt with quotes from the Old Testament and, I guess, Revelations. There was no doubt in this man's mind that New Orleans asked for this, and they got it. When I commented a second time, mentioning a guy named Job... wasn't he tormented? He was one of the good guys, right? I got more scripture back, and was, in so many words, accused of not being a Christian.

Well, I guess he's right, I'm not a christian with a lower-case c. If spending time in heaven means being surrounded by wrath-loving, hate-filled, judgmental dolts... well, that sounds like hell to me... I'll pass, thank you.

So what if people ran around drunk in the streets down there. So what if naked women used to swing in the windows on Bourbon Street. (to be honest, this sounds terribly compelling and interesting to me.) So what if there are drug addicts and whores and EVIL-DOERS in the Big Uneasy. Does this give anyone a right to judge and pass condemnation when a million people are dying, dehydrating, and wasting away on the sidewalk? To presume to know the mind of God is to elevate oneself to being God. No one knows what She's thinking. We can venture a guess, perhaps, but that would be creating God in our own image, wouldn't it.

There is nothing more evil than someone who professes holiness whose dogma is filled with nothing but holes. Nothing, in my opinion is uglier than hypocrasy. Nothing.

For whatever reason, God has left us to our own devices. Even though Pat Robertson would disaggree with me, there's nothing... nothing we can do about the path of a hurricane. Which makes me wonder... where was Pat during all of this? Why wasn't he down on the waterfront praying Katrina away. I'd hate to think anyone believes washing the sins of New Orleans away with a hurricane is a good thing.

Ugly.

So.. here I sit with my blog in one hand, and a dilema in the other: Where do I find the beauty? How do I go about creating some?

Certainly not by continuing this rant.

The only Act of God we will witness in this horrific situation will be the acts He commits through you and through me. We the people of this teetering nation, we the citizens of a divided country, can create immense beauty where there presently is none. I don't believe for a moment that god huffed and puffed and he blew the gulf coast down. What we CAN do is hold each other up, give money, clothing, food, and shelter to our brothers and sisters who are in desperate need. All of us can become His hands, and Her feet. We can express Her love and His justice ~ bringing relief and compassion to the poor, the destitute, the homeless, and yes.. the prostitutes, the meek, the hungry, the blind, and the weak.

You and me... we are His hands, and we are His feet.


Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall posses the land.
Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Posted by vincent at September 4, 2005 09:05 PM

Comments

Amen and Amen.

I saw the beauty this weekend as our little town of 20,000 rallied together to get ready for the victims of the hurricane that were headed to our community. The girl who checked us out at Walmart said that more than half the people she had checked out Saturday were buying supplies to be sent to the relief effort.
5 of the biggest churches in town were busy preparing places for them to stay. One church who didn't have showers, hired a contractor to come put some in.
The place where we took the supplies we had purchased had prepared the fellowship hall of their church.40 beds, all made up with pretty, matching covers and pillows. The ladies were busy cooking food.
It was beautiful.

Posted by: aola at September 4, 2005 11:43 PM

I find beauty in your comments and heart.

Posted by: Chunky at September 5, 2005 12:20 AM

Both your picture and words say it very well, Susan...

Posted by: dan at September 5, 2005 01:09 AM

Dear Susan:

My heart aches because of your disallusionment. I spent a great deal of my life in the "CHRISTIAN' circle. I even married a baptist ministers daughter. My experience with christians has been that the more a person tells you that they are a CHRISTIAN, the less likely that they are one. I have only met two people in my lifetime that I would with out a doubt call CHRISTIANS. Although they rarely mentioned their beliefs to me, their actions spoke volumes. In my personal opinion, Pat Robertson is in no way whatsoever a CHRISTIAN. He proved that to the world by his commment about Hugo Chaves!

I believe that we as human beings should all TRY to live by the GOLDEN RULE. Mr. Robertson in his assinine comment was definatly not practicing the GOLDEN RULE.

I want to make a bumper sticker that says,"THE MORE CHRISTIANS THAT I MEET, THE MORE I LIKE LIONS!"

Posted by: Terry Murphy at September 5, 2005 08:35 AM

Terry,

Actually, my disallusionment phase came and went years ago. I count myself as an agnostic because I don't have all the answers. I never will. Everything is a mystery, and God must have intended it to be that way. I think Jesus showed us a way to live that is good, but I also believe some of what he said and did was warped to suit the purposes of leaders and the church.

I could be right, I could be wrong. There's no way to tell.

All religions, at their core, speak the same truth.. love your neighbor. We are spiritual beings living in an era without appropriate myths and stories to help us through times such as these, and the most vocal christians just drive people away from the beauty of many of their traditions. The bible is so complex, it can be manipulated to support almost anyone's opinion. For myself, I look toward the sermon on the mount as a good way to view the world. It is also so profoundly simple and radical, that I'm persuaded to believe he really did say it.

We are all blessed to walk the earth, we are all loved, it does not matter what you confess with your lips, or whether you've met the litmus test for salvation. What matters is what we do, and how treat each other... and how we treat our resources while we are here. In a past life, I may have been an American Indian.

Hopefully, I'm on to something. All I know is looking at the world this way makes sense to me and gives me a deep sense of peace and a sense of belonging to the earth and to all who inhabit it... including LIONS!

Posted by: Susan at September 5, 2005 09:56 AM

Just wanted you to know that not all Christ-followers would say that the hurricane and its aftermath are an "act of God". My pastor gave a beautiful message on this yesterday... You can check it out at www.vccproductions.com.

Posted by: jbutler at September 5, 2005 10:01 AM

Jbutler,

Thanks for the link, and I will check it out. I know many Christians who do not believe the hurricane is an act of god. My mother, my stepfather, my best friend... people here. I shed light on the subject because it's a deep dark shadow and shouldn't be ignored. I read an article yesterday that said 40% of Americans believe the end of the world will happen this way. Although that statistic sounds inflated to me, it bothers me.

Best,

Susan

Posted by: Susan at September 5, 2005 10:10 AM

Personally, if that hurricane was an "act of God", maybe it should have just stayed above America for a while and blown us all to hell and back. We have ALL sinned. There is NONE righteous, and New Orleans' events may be on God's timetable, but not for the reasons the "christians" are thinking.

Trying to get into the mind of God will be a shocker for anyone who makes it.

Posted by: MMM at September 5, 2005 11:22 AM

just read your Sept. 5 blog. Wonderful! I am a retired United Methodist Pastor who all my ministry did battle with people like Robertson and their stupid theology/reading of the Bible. My heart is warmed and my mind is hopefull knowing that at least some of the younger generation like you can see through all the religious junk that is being spewed at us. Thanks for your web site - your photos - and your comments.
Wil

Posted by: wil at September 5, 2005 01:08 PM

Dear Susan --

You said that so much better than I ever could have.

Stupid, ignorant people suck.

Jen

Posted by: jen at September 6, 2005 01:14 AM

it's always amazing to me that those kind of 'christians' never seem to read their bibles and figure out that jesus hated the self-righteous, religious pharisee-types - it just makes me so sick to be grouped in with that ugliness.

keep looking for beauty susan - we all need the reminders! great post!

Posted by: bobbie at September 6, 2005 12:32 PM

your response to Terry was beautiful.

I have stopped calling myself a christian for all those reasons that have been mentioned.

Posted by: aola at September 6, 2005 02:54 PM

Amen to you. You know, I'm beginning to think that religion often has little to do with the spiritual heart. It's like there was once a first hand experience of open-hearted joy from God that was so great humans wanted it to continue. We started to codify the experience over time into a set of righteous rules and then begin to fall away from Spirit, relying on the outer words to buttress up our own weaknesses within, using the apparent strength of them. So I don't blame the lower case c's, it's only natural for those that may be weaker at this time.

I look to the spiritual heart, such as you express, to lift my life, not those famously thought of as pious. Perhaps such thoughts are dawning for many.

Posted by: Shelley Noble at September 6, 2005 06:01 PM

just wanted to say thank you for this post. you said better than I could what I have wanted to say for days now.

Posted by: Kirsten at September 7, 2005 06:42 PM