Terror and surrender - continued

Back in the dusty annals of history, when I was in Baptist seminary, bursting with excitement about new ways of seeing things and in love with theology yet still stuck in the dreaded closet, I had a dream. It came to mind as I did the last post and I think I really ought to share it.

It was one of those desperate nightmares. I was among the defenders of a walled city (I had been reading a lot of mediaeval history in those days). We were under attack. Everything was dark. The opposing side had, like its Goliath, a very dark, powerful monster that would annihilate our walls and destroy us. The beast dwarfed our city walls. Total terror. There was no imaginable hope.

Early in the dream, as best I can recall, I was just one among the defenders but when all was lost I cried out, "Open the gates!"

I surrendered myself and the city.

And we were not annihilated, or even attacked.

The monster turned out to be benign.

All was going to be well.

And I woke up.

It seemed then, and seems even more so now, that the monster I was terrified of was my sexuality. It only threatened if I tried to keep it at bay. Embraced it would be my friend. In surrender was grace.

The walled city was probably my "closet."

In the years that followed, I did not open my closet door. Someone else ripped it off the hinges for me. But I have never regretted letting go of the terrifying secret and learning all over to be the person God made me.

Of course, learning to be the persons God made us is a lifelong task that we face often. But it is so much better than trying to be anyone or anything else.

Grace to you all, and peace.

--the BB

What sort of hellspawn are they?

Cthulhu image via pathguy

I refer to these evil creatures walking among us and pressing for war on Iran? And cheerleading the iniquitous and barbaric mess in Iraq? I am fast approaching the point where even by faith I can no longer call them human. Evil, evil, evil!

My mother used to speak of situations that made her "lose" her Christianity, which was probably no more than wanting to say "bad" words and harbor uncharitable thoughts. I am way past that point.

If Cheney, Podhoretz, Bloody Bill Krystol, and the entire Kagan family, combined with the idiot boy-king Bush don't scare the hell out of you this Hallowe'en, nothing will.

Instead of giving way to exaggerated and groundless fears, however, it might be more effective if we all acknowledge that not only does the chimperor have no clothes, the whole lot of them have no rationality, no integrity, and no credibility and we therefore collectively and heartily and publicly and repeatedly laugh them to scorn.
--the BB
UPDATE: And when the media and pundits give them any time and attention as though they had anything reasonable, intelligent, or credible to contribute, call the media and pundits on it and ask they why on earth they bother listening to and propagating such steaming piles of feces.
STOP THE INSANITY!