Populie: Good People Vote … November 5, 2014

 Jonathots Daily Blog

(2404)

It is quite possible for something to be good but handled so poorly that it becomes bad.

This is how ideas that are popular can be infested with a lie, and end up being a populie that brings dissension and even destruction.

This is obvious to me on the issue of voting.

Entertainment, which has something good to work with and often handles it poorly, ending up with mediocre or bad results, loves the issue of voting because it’s so easily twisted into either a civil responsibility or a sense of frustration over horrible elected officials.

Politics, which takes something good–governing and taking care of people–and handles it so poorly that it becomes something bad–loves voting because it gives the illusion of giving power to the voter, while stealing the real decision-making away from them.

And religion, which is something good to bless the hearts of people, and is poorly handled as mere ritual and greed, loves voting because it gives us another way of expressing supremacy and proving that we’re patriotic.

I will become a firm believer in voting when it actually begins to matter, and is not the victim of the electoral college, gerrymandering, the 24-hour news cycle intrusion, PACs, and incessant polls elections by smearing manure on opposing candidates.

I refuse to accept something which has become evil through the cheating and lying of manipulative individuals and call it good, simply to fall in line with some holy patriotic march to commonality.

Right now my vote does not matter.

That makes me mad.

Even if we could take one or two of these perversions and demand that they be changed so that the vote of each individual American IS counted as valuable, I would be pleased.

If we would just do away with the electoral college and forbid polls to be taken daily during elections, this country would be stronger and the politicians would be responding to the people instead of their parties and the pundits.

I won’t even deal with the gerrymandering which segments districts based on demographics or the intolerable negative ads which permeate the television screen in an attempt to prove that “my political dog is better than your political dog.”

Stop stumping for the power of the vote. There are simply too many interferences in the democratic system.

• Voting is good.
• The way it is handled in this country is horrible.
• Therefore the result is bad.

Take your vote and use it to change the voting process in this country, and you will really achieve something rather than goose-stepping your way to the polls at the bequest of the system.

People are not avoiding the movie theaters because they hate movies. Their emotions and spirits are starved by entertainment which is both repetitious and uses too much sensationalism.

People are not leaving the church because they hate goodness. They are departing because form has overtaken reason and intolerance has been thrust forward instead of the love of God.

And people are not indifferent to good government–but they do feel they’ve lost the power to initiate change.

Good people vote–if good people have secured the path to make sure their vote is not interrupted by corruption.

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Bank On It… August 25, 2013

Jonathots Daily Blog

(1986)

One of the rituals we actively and faithfully follow in our travels across these United States is to arrive about twenty minutes early to our gigs. The reason for this is quite simple–actually numerous.

First, we get away from that “heated rush” so that our demeanor can be cool, calm and collected.

We also allow for the unexpected, like traffic, or in some of the more rural locations, a reluctant cow or horse crossing the road.

It also gives us a great opportunity to trim down our egos and low-ball our expectations about the evening’s event–whether we will be inundated with audience, awash, sprinkled or barely drizzled.

Normally we find a park, an abandoned building or some out-of-the-way little space to pull in, roll down the windows and chat for those few minutes.

But Wednesday night in Portage I spotted a mailbox in the parking lot of a bank. I was delighted because I had a couple of pieces of correspondence I wanted to drop in. Well, since I was there, I decided to go ahead and park underneath the shade tree in the back of this well-known lending institution.

We were just talking away as Jan took out her oboe case, made sure all the pieces were in the right location and began to soaking her reeds for the evening’s performance.

It was finally time to leave, and I backed our big, black van out and turned toward the exit, only to discover that an orange cone had been placed in the road, with a policeman standing there, peering at me quizzically. I didn’t think much about it and attempted to pass on by, when he ordered me to halt.

I rolled down my window and asked him what I could do to help. He was curious why we had been sitting in the back lot of the bank for so long. It had stirred interest among the employees, who were trying to figure out why a bunch of folks were sitting in this dark vehicle with out-of-state plates, perched in the rear of their establishment just at closing time.

I explained to the policeman about our habit prior to heading off to a performance. He grinned, now realizing there would be no need for a SWAT team or helicopter coverage from above. Actually, he became inquisitive about the nature of our journey and asked for one of our pamphlets so he could check out our websites. He waved us on and we headed off to our destination.

As I pulled out, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a whole collection of nervous, twenty-something, bank-teller-type individuals, who had obviously been wondering if there was going to be a shoot-out between our gang and the local Portage police.

I don’t know if they were disappointed or not, but I did promise the police officer that in the future, I would certainly avoid using a bank for my peaceful repose.

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Will… June 19, 2012

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A hidden prejudice–it is a decision made by those who should be the MOST giving and spiritual–to allow their personal preferences to enter the life of their gentleness and mercy and determine who will be loved and who will be set aside. It is the foolish conclusion that the Kingdom of God is a democracy–that somehow we all have a vote over whether each new member should be included in the holy flock. (By the way, we don’t.)

“Whosoever” means everybody. And “whosoever” also equals “NoOne is better than anyone else.”

But I must tell you that there is another hidden agenda that has cropped up in this generation of those who were meant to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” This particular situation was triggered by a collision between reality and destiny.

Reality: the world is a mess.

Destiny: God is in control.

If you follow that logic through to completion–that the world is a mess and God is in control–then it certainly must cross your mind that God is a mess. So the source of our enlightenment, refreshment and salvation suddenly seems inept. So the average searcher finds himself escaping into fantasy.

In other words, “Since the world is nuts and God doesn’t seem to be able to do much with it, I’m going to go watch a movie about vampires, allow myself to be absorbed in a comic book flick or go to some seminar and hear about the end of the world and consider what kind of horse Jesus will ride when he comes back to the earth again.”

The rebirth of the popularity of fantasy is a hidden surrender by the church and those who believe, to the nastiness of the world around them, and a silent resignation to the incompetence of God. I know we consider “surrender” to be a positive spiritual attribute–and it may be, in terms of our own personal consecration and admission of our weaknesses–but once our foibles are revealed, it is time to get strong again.

It is the season to use our will.

Most Christians will tell you they think we are praying for God’s good works to be accomplished so we can give glory to Him. Unfortunately, this is the opposite of what Jesus taught. He said that the actual process is that WE do the good works, which people see and they glorify God on our behalf.

When you take the responsibility away from the individual believer–to make the world a better place–you put him at the mercy of coping with reality and destiny, and he will eventually escape into some form of fantasy. A quick perusal of the gospel of Jesus lets you know that it is a “go–be–do” proposal.

• Go into all the world and preach the gospel
• Be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect. and
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

God is not absent; He is just the only one in the company doing the job correctly. He has come to give us wisdom, His spirit, His grace and His agreement. But He expects His children to use their will to become “go-be-do’ers.”

You may think that it’s a powerful thing to relinquish your personality in pursuit of God–and there is a season where repentance demands that we admit our frailties–but only that we might acquire new power and new authority. If you tell people that the world is a terrible place and that God is in control and leave them without the will to make the earth become “as it is in heaven,” then don’t be surprised when they escape into all forms of fantasy.

Case in point: this is the source of much marital infidelity. In other words, “Marriage is not what I expected it to be (reality) but marriage is sacred (destiny) so therefore I am going to cheat and create a counter-relationship so that I don’t have to deal with either one (fantasy).”

We see it in the theology of the present religious system. “The world is in such a horrible condition that something has to change (reality). God cannot save the whole world, so Jesus will have to come back to destroy the wicked (destiny). So therefore, what’s the sense in me trying to do anything when God’s given up on the whole thing? Let me just develop my own world and dwell within its boundaries (fantasy).”

We are destroying the gospel by pretending that God is supposed to solve everything. He said He would care for us, He would meet our need (which is what we can’t come up with on our own) and that He would be with us always. But Jesus said that we are the “salt of the earth and the light of the world and that we’re a city set on a hill for all to see.”

Finding people in the desperation of reality and only offering them a destiny of heaven is removing them from the equation of changing the earth, and instead, thrusting them into a forced fantasy. There is a hidden surrender among those who should be attacking the gates of hell and tearing down the negative attitudes.

Here is the truth: the world says “no.” The universe is negatively charged. “No” is the most common word you will ever hear. So don’t you think we need a group of people on Planet Earth who are geared to say “yes?” If we’re going to end up with anything that resembles beauty, purity and clarity, the “no” that is chimed from the worldly system MUST be contradicted by the “yea and amen” from God’s people.

To do this, we must cease our hidden surrender, take our will and step forward in faith, believing that God has made us the front line in His campaign to love the world. Without this, ritual becomes more important than being real, worship becomes a replacement for mission and devotion, and platitudes are read from the Holy Book without any understanding of application.

Beware the hidden surrender which looks at reality and destiny and sighs in despair, heading off towards a selected fantasy.

God gave us the power to make a difference. Unfortunately, He does not force us to do so, but rather, waits for intelligent people to understand that living a miserable life is not a good warm-up to heavenly bliss.

A hidden surrender–it takes away our blessing of being involved in our own lives, bestowing grace and mercy to others.

So take a moment and redefine reality. Reality is actually what the world thinks is true PLUS my ability to make it better. Escape the foolishness of destiny, which tells us to wait for God to do good things so we can act impressed, and instead, go out and do something impressive–and delight in the fact that people see God in the work.

This will keep you away from the fantasy that makes your life a game of chance instead of a personal decision to go, be and do.

   

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Withered … May 27, 2012

(1,527)

He was sick.

Disabled.

Well, not really without ability. His particular affliction had been with him for so long that nobody gave it a second thought.

Nobody except him. (Personal plagues are always personally present.) But as for friends, unless some new family came for worship at the church and one of their little ones was fascinated with the dwarfed hand and stared too long–well, other than that, it was pretty well absorbed.

He had a deformed hand. On initial viewing, it was grotesque. Determined eyeball-to-eyeball contact was required to avoid a misplaced glance at the tiny appendage. It was a very polite and political policy of practice.

He had such a great attitude about his limitation, even occasionally joking with others about his situation, citing that he would, “give them a hand, but he didn’t have one to spare!”

It had become acceptable–an acceptable lacking. An absence, adjusted to quite well. People had moved on. Life had reassembled into an understanding of the necessity for normalcy. There were no mentions of cure. There were no discussions of remedy. There were no longer any prayers for a miracle. Everyone was satisfied with a very unsatisfying situation. Everyone … except Jesus.

He came to worship. He sat to pray. He listened to scriptures. But then he rose to meet the need.

He interrupted.

Now, you must understand that interruptions are generally considered to be anti-human contradictions to the flow of our relaxed consciousness. Even when they’re pleasant possibilities, we resist at first because they are not in the spectrum of the programming. For after all, there’s no reason to hold a worship service if you haven’t already planned it. Songs were selected; special music was practiced. Even a presentation for the children was strategically placed within the framework of a cramped agenda. There was really no time for interruptions

Propriety is the schoolmaster of the classroom of decency and order. So when Jesus stood to his feet and interrupted the proceedings, there was a sense of both surprise and certainly, annoyance. Who did he think he was? What did he think he was doing? What arrogance did he possess that caused him to believe that any contribution he could make would be worthy of consideration? He simply posed the question.

“Is it good to do good on the Sabbath?”

There was silence. For after all, that was the response to most things that happened within the confines of the sanctuary. Silence was a way of showing reverence, of being reflective and pious. But silence in this case only confirmed indifference and cowardice.

Jesus was angry. He asked the man with the withered hand to stand to his feet and stretch it forth. As he did, the hand, which had become common in its disfigurement appeared for the first time–beautifully whole.

There was no applause. There were no hallelujahs. Just an uncomfortable fidgeting, punctuated by a cough or two.

Jesus turned on his heel and walked out of the building, followed by a freshly healed, reborn and rejuvenated new brother.

After the pair left, there was a stillness in the room for a few moments, while everyone tried to mentally reconnoiter what to do next. Then the minister rose to his feet and began to read scriptures and everyone found their place in the order of service and continued faithfully.

Having survived the disruption of a miracle, the church was able to return to its liturgy. But Jesus was gone from their midst. Also gone was the confirmation in flesh of why they truly should gather–a transformed human being who had been touched by the grace of God.

Withered–it’s what occurs to any living thing right before death closes the deal. It is the lingering pain which has become acceptable because of its frequency. People adjust to it. People work around it.

Not Jesus. Jesus was off and away, to seek and save that which was lost.

Withered. It begs the question. “Is it good to do good on the Sabbath?”

The question echoes in our silence.

 

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