Category Archives: Church

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Book Notes #1 – Blue Like Jazz

Hello World!!!

July has been the busiest month I’ve had all year. Now that I’ve got those deadlines and activities behind me, I can blog again! Yay! I’m sure it’s no surprise  to you that I adore books. In fact, my very first post, which was almost a year ago (Wow!), was about a book that I read.

As a service on this blog, I plan to write book reviews and highlight interesting books periodically that you (my readers – hopefully I have some 🙂 ) may find interesting and helpful. When I rededicated my life to Christ in 1996 and thus tried to remember that I was a Christian on a daily basis, I was at a loss at how to conduct myself. I knew some of the basic commandments – 1. You should probably not get drunk –  at least in front of other Christians. 2. You should probably not have sex unless you  are married. 3. You probably shouldn’t gossip – unless you are praying for someone in a prayer group and you’ve just got to tell their business. 🙂 4.  You should stop listening to any music unless it features a choir – preferably a gospel one with a ridiculously loud soloist. 5. You should probably wear shorts that come to your knees instead of booty-tight short shorts….and on and on. Anyway, I wanted to live as as a Christian but NONE of the basic commandments I knew about appealed to me.

I realized that I could talk to pastors, deacons , Bible study leaders and other people in positions of authority to get some perspective, but they would probably reinforce the commandments that I knew about and add others. So I decided to talk to other regular ole Christians and read books about the Christian experience from other people. My rationale was that God would speak to me through regular people, books and my own life experiences. And He has…but along the way, I have lost my fear of many pastors, deacons, Bible study leaders and other people in positions of authority.  And most times, I no longer mind all of the commandments although I can’t say that I obey all of them…teehee…seriously though, God has spoken to me in a variety of ways about how to live the Christian life…And even today, one of my favorite ways to know more is read the experiences of others…so after my long intro, below is my review of the book Blue Like Jazz – Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller.

I first discovered this book when DKW and I were perusing a Barnes & Noble store in downtown Atlanta. This book jumped out at me because of the title. Although I identify as a Christian, I often feel I don’t fit in with the religious crowd – particularly the crowd I’ve come across in the A. First of all, I prefer smaller churches…I want to feel like I could personally get to know the pastor if I want to…I don’t want to feel like the pastor of the church is as difficult to access as the president probably is…And with so many pastors who use their position as a way to exploit their people for cash, I’ve got to know that a pastor is real…now I’m not saying that if a church is large, some trickery is going on. I know that’s not true…there are some excellent large churches out there, but I just want to feel like I could get to know the pastor personally and that’s hard to do in a large churches. I could say more but let me move on with this review…

So this book is a about a Christian who has unusual ideas about his faith….And by the way, this is going to be an unconventional review…I just plan to recount some of the interesting passages of this book and give my thoughts…I don’t necessarily plan to break the book down sequentially or anything.  In the chapter Faith : Penguin Sex, the author decribes his faith in God…

The goofy thing about Christian faith is that you believe it and don’t believe it at the same time. It isn’t unlike having an imaginary friend. I believe in Jesus; I believe He is the Son of God, but every time I sit down to explain this to somebody I feel like a palm reader, like somebody who works at a circus or a kid who is always making things up or somebody at a Star Trek convention who hasn’t figured out the show isn’t real.

Until.

When one of my friends becomes a Christian, which happens every ten years because I am such a sheep about sharing my faith, the experience is euphoric. I see in their eyes the trueness of the story.

I feel the same way…when you decide to become a Christian and you tell others, it kind of feels like you’re saying that you believe in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus or something. (I think I read a similar line somewhere in some book…Ha,ha a similar line is in this book p. 55) It does sound a little silly to say that you believe in a God that you can’t see and that you even pray out loud to a God that has never spoken back audibly- at least to me…And so, it’s hard to to tell others even though that is what Christians are supposed to do – spread the good news aka gospel of Jesus Christ…I remember in my early ’20s, I used to hang around this dude Reggie…I met him through a column he wrote in Essence magazine (it’s a long story — ask me if you are interested…it is a pretty interesting story)

Anyway, me and this dude were obsessed with celebrities, and we would go to various celebrity events around town and compare notes…back in the day, I even met a few (Diddy, Faith, Usher, Andre 3000, Jeru the Damaja etc.) Anyway, Reggie desperately wanted to work at LaFace Records back when it was headquarted in the A…every other word out his mouth was how he made a contact with someone who worked at the record label, and it was only a matter of time before he would be working there…Simultaneously, I was trying to live my life as a newly rededicated Christian, and I wanted to tell Reggie about it…But I couldn’t figure out how to slip in the Good News in between his high octane rants about bum rushing folk until they let him work at LaFace. All of a sudden, we were talking one day about something off the wall I’m sure, and he announces that he has decided to become a Christian and that he believes in Jesus Christ. I was so surprised I wanted to curse, but I’m reasonably sure that wouldn’t have been the right response just then. As he talked, I wondered who got to him before I did…I felt like I was a recruiter for Christ and someone had infringed on my territory. I invited him to my church after that, but it felt really anticlimactic at that point…He even came too…I don’t know what happened to Reggie…I hope he’s doing okay and is still a believer…I’ve gotten a little better about sharing my faith but not much…y’all pray for me…

Here is another interesting passage from the book:

I had become a Christian so why did I still struggle with lust, greed or envy? Why did I want to get drunk at parties or cheat on tests?

When I first rededicated my life to Jesus Christ, I stopped going to clubs for a while…I felt like God wanted me to do that…but after a while, I began going to clubs again with my friends…not on a regular basis but just to hang out every once in a while…some of the time, I decided to have drink…I would say to myself as I was drinking that first drink, this will be it…but another drink or two later, I would find myself laughing hysterically in some dude’s face and trying to coerce him to give me a piggy back ride in the club…not cool…The next day, I would wonder what my friends and God thought of my behavior…

Here is the author’s solution to this dilemma:

Our “behavior” will not be changed long with self-discipline, but fall in love and a human will accomplish what he never thought possible. The laziest of men will swim the English channel to win his woman. I think what Rick said is worth repeating that by accepting God’s love for us, we fall in love with Him, and only then do we have the fuel  we need to obey.

That’s true…but it also helps that I’m getting older…being tipsy in the club at 35 ain’t cute…

Here is the another great line from the book that  describes me I think:

So much of me believes strongly in letting everybody live their own lives, and when I share my faith, I feel like a network marketing guy trying to build my own down line.

Here’s another great passage from the book. This passage comes from the chapter Church: How I Go Without Getting Angry:

The churches I attended would embrace war metaphor. They would talk about how we are in a battle, and I agreed with them, only they wouldn’t clarify that we were battling poverty and hate and injustice and pride and the powers of darkness. They left us thinking that our war was against liberals and homosexuals. Their teaching would have me believe I was the good person in the world and the liberals were the bad people in the world…The truth is we are supposed to love the hippies, the liberals, and even the Democrats, and that God wants us to think of them as more important that ourselves. Anything short of this is not true to the teachings of Jesus.

I really despise that us against them mentality in Christianity that is highlighted every presidential election. It seems like some Republicans believe that they are the only ones qualified to call themselves Christian and if you don’t agree with all of their views, you are a sinner doomed to hell…

Anywho, I could say more about this book, but I feel like this post is long enough…If you’re looking for an incredibly insightful and humorous book about Christian faith, read Blue Like Jazz…

I’m out….

Any thoughts?  

 

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Shout out to…Bethesda Baptist Church part two

SignHello World!!!

As I stated in Sunday’s post, I will be “shouting out” churches that have remarkable ministries inside or outside of the church in the “Shout out to…” series on a periodic basis.

I “shouted out” Bethesda Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia in a previous post. The church, through the leadership of its pastor,  Rev. Terrance J. Gattis, opened the House of Grace Health Care Clinic in February. Through this clinic, low-income, uninsured adults are able to receive FREE health care including exams, evaluation by a doctor, lab work and prescription services! The clinic, located at 3567 Covington Highway in Decatur,  is housed in a space donated by the Atlanta Belvedere Seventh Day Adventist Church.

I wrote the post after reading an article about the clinic. I did not hear about the clinic through the pastor, any church members or anyone that has visited the clinic. However, after a Google search about two weeks ago produced my blog , the pastor of the church contacted me via my Facebook page and thanked me for my coverage of the clinic opening. He also gave me a update on their efforts.

“House of Grace began the year with the goal of providing free primary and prevention health care services to the uninsured in the Decatur community.  Specifically, our goal is to provide support to 1,000 uninsured patients in 2009.  To date, House of Grace has treated more than 100 uninsured patients, while logging more than 250 hours of volunteer service from our doctor, nurse and support staff,” said Gattis.

However, the clinic, which is open on the first and third Monday of each month from 6 to 9 p.m. , may have to scale back its services. Its sole doctor, Dr. C. J. Goodman, who recently opened a new practice, will only be available on one Monday per month starting in July. In addition to expressing his gratitude for my first post, Pastor Gattis also appealed me to write another post about his search for another physician to help staff the clinic.

“To help meet our goals for the year, we are desperately seeking a doctor, pa or clinical practical nurse who is willing to donate 3 to 6 hours of volunteer service per month.  Sovereign immunity protection is provided by the state, so issues of liability have been mitigated.  In short, we need someone who is willing to help us demonstrate the ethic and love of Jesus Christ and care for “the least of these” (Matt. 25:40), by blessing others with their time, talent and gifts.”

In an effort to demonstrate the clinic’s impact in a just a few months, I interviewed Pastor Gattis, Dr. Goodman and Deborah Hightower, a patient of the clinic.

The clinic is staffed by one doctor, a nurse, two medical assistants and four intake specialists – all volunteers. Potential patients travel to the clinic from as far as Loganville and Duluth to receive services and starting getting in line outside the clinic hours before the clinic opens. Only a few of those in line on each Monday are able to be evaluated at the clinic.  “The lines begin at 4 p.m.,” explained Gattis. “We hand out 12 numbers [to patients.] After that we are done.”

While the clinic is available for homeless people, none of have showed up on the clinic’s doorsteps. “We haven’t seen any indigent people,” said Gattis. “We see working people who have no insurance or people who are in between jobs. These people look like you and me.”

Such is the case for Deborah Hightower, who has been out of work for about a year. However, at her last job, she was employed on a part-time basis and did not have any health care benefits. She was excited after she heard about the clinic when she visited Bethesda Baptist with a friend. “I thought this is going to be great,” Hightower said. “I will be able to get the services I need without health insurance or any income.”

She visited the clinic months later after she began experiencing symptoms related to her high blood pressure. The first time she went to the clinic she was turned away as there many others in line ahead of her. The second time she arrived at the clinic hours earlier and was pleased with how she was treated at the clinic.

“They treated me with compassion, grace, respect and kindness,” said Hightower. “Tht’s what I got when I walked in the door. They pay attention to you, and that is what you need.”

 While patients wait to be seen by the medical staff, they have the option of receiving counseling and or prayer by Gattis or a church minister.

“When a person signs in, there is an area on the sign-in form that asks if a person would like prayer and or pastoral counseling.  On average, about one out of three of the people select yes to one or both,” explained Gattis. ” So, while they’re waiting to be seen by the doctor,  either I or one of the ministers from our church will take them to a private area to pray or provide pastoral counseling.  During this time, if we discover that a person needs additional resources (from rental assistance to MARTA cards to food and clothing), we provide what they need or direct them to the necessary resources.”

Hightower appreciated both the medical attention and the counseling she received while at the clinic. “It helps you to relieve stress and get encouragement. I haven’t had any income in the past two months.”

Dr. Goodman agreed that many of the clinic’s patients need more than just medical attention. She recalled one patient who Goodman suspected was an alcoholic.

“She didn’t come in because she was an alcoholic,” Goodman explained. “I think she came in for an annual exam. Her speech was slurred. Alcoholics have a particular syntax even when they are sober. ”

As the woman talked, Goodman listened before finally interupting her. “I said, ‘Why don’t we take care of your body, soul and spirit? Will you let me help you instead of giving you a prescription?’ ” The woman began crying as Dr. Goodman spoke. “A lot of people are sick physically, but many are sick emotionally. It is necessary to have a discerning ear.”

Dr. Goodman belives that many ailments are simply caused by poor nutrition, and patients are also able to receive nutritional counseling at the clinic. Hightower learned that many of her symptoms were caused by her nutritional habits.

“I was told to drink more water and that I was eating too much sugar and sodium,” she said with a laugh.

Although Hightower laughed as she described her eating habits, she became serious at the thought of the clinic cutting back its services or even closing. She appealed to doctors who may be thinking of volunteering their time at the clinic.

“We would not be able to receive the help that we so desperately need without you,” she said.

Doctors may contact Pastor Gattis at (404)  610-1256. Please spread the word!

Any thoughts?

P.S. I have attached one of my favorite old-timey sounding gospel songs, “Come On In the Room,” by the Georgia Mass Choir. Jesus is the ultimate doctor for sure, but He also heals through medical doctors…

 

 

 

 

 

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Who Are You Behind Your “Church Persona?”

Hello World!!!

A friend of mine sent me a link to this wonderful Web site, iamsecond.com, and it got  me thinking about these masks that are easy to wear at church…

At my church, it seems that I am eternally “the pastor’s kid,” although I am 35 years old. My church family have known me since I was six years old, but they don’t know all of me for sure…There are certain parts that I have kept hidden away because they don’t fit the image of “the pastor’s kid.” I’m not blaming them because maybe this is a self-imposed burden…no one ever asked me to keep certain parts of myself hidden, but nevertheless that is what I have done…

That is why I think this Web site is really cool because people are sharing their real stories and turning to Christ as their first line of defense against their struggles. Through the Web site, people share their stories of abuse, porn addiction, eating disorders, infidelity, divorce — and how they have been able to cope with these struggles through having a personal relationship with God. They have put Christ first, and their identities including their struggles are now second…

I have learned through various means how to be my authentic self, and it perplexes me how sometimes “church folk” try to make it seem that everything is always alright…That’s why it’s annoying when sometimes you ask “church folk” how they are doing and their standard answer, no matter what, is, “I’m blessed and highly favored.” Stop lying. You just ate a box of doughnuts, and you feel like you can’t stop eating no matter how hard you try…Or, you just spent the whole night looking at porn on the Internet…Or your marriage is a lonely facade although everyone thinks y’all are happy…Or your body is bruised courtesy of your husband’s uncontrollable anger…Yes, we are all “blessed and highly favored” for sure, but hiding behind that standard answer gets no one closer to the solution…

That’s why I was especially touched when gospel singer Kirk Franklin talked about his porn addiction with Oprah a few years ago…He certainly did not have to reveal his struggle…he hadn’t been caught in anything which is why many people reveal their struggles…Maybe being willing to confront struggles is one of the reasons why Kirk Franklin has teamed up with the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association for the “Fight of Our Life Health Tour.” I heard Franklin talking about this partnership with Rev. Al on the radio last week. Rev. Al, who has lost a considerable amount of weight, commented that this partnership is particularly important in the black church where life can be preached upstairs and greasy, fried chicken and other artery-clogging foods are served downstairs. But that is probably true for many Southern churches, black or white….And let me not front, I love fried chicken, but I also know that we can be slaves to detrimental eating habits…I know that God doesn’t want us to struggle with that…

So who are you behind your “church persona?”

Any thoughts?

P.S. If you would rather not share your thoughts here, but need to talk to somebody, please go to the I Am Second Web site where someone is available 24/7.