A Good Christian Shouldn’t Judge, But……

I know it is God and only God who should judge each and everyone of us. I went on another one of my tirades about this subject here! But I’m going to take off my Christian hat for just a moment. My first point is me being judgmental, but once I make my point I will quickly transform back to my Christian values. So here goes: If you are making a concerted effort to attend Mass on Sunday, why show up late? A Mass is broken up into two key elements:

1. The Liturgy of the Word
2. The Liturgy of the Eucharist

Neither of these elements is less important than the other. Please approach the bench. (Yes I still have my Judges robe on) From my perspective (tsk, tsk) I sense that some people don’t hold the liturgy of the word in as high a regard as they do the Holy Eucharist. If we never listened to the Word of God, we never would have learned about the Eucharist in the first place.

Okay, I am going to stop judging now and simply state the facts about the importance of truly listening to the Word of God.

(Removing my robe, and stepping down from the bench)

As I have stated before I am religious about (pun intended) reading the Word of God on a daily basis. And as I learned in my first

It’s Sometimes Hard to Be a Good Christian

I was stopped at a traffic light yesterday; I was in the third lane from the left. The two left lanes were turn only lanes. And although the left hand turn was my desired destination the traffic in those two lanes was backed-up for quite some distance. So I decided to stay in the main lane until I passed through the light. Once I got through the light it was my intention to make a U-turn, followed by a right hand turn, which would’ve put me back on track to my desired course in less time. Of course I could have gotten into one of the turn only lanes in the first place and patiently waited my turn through four or five light cycles, but what kind of option is that?

In any case when the light turned green and traffic proceeded forward, a car in the turn lane next to me left approximately a two car length opening between him and the car in front of him. What luck I thought. Now there was no need to test my cars steering radius or waste precious rubber on my tires from a pointless U-turn. So instead of continuing straight ahead I eased my car into the opening and made the left turn. Now at this point I am sure you are wondering why I am describing my turn by turn exploits of my evening commute. If this were the end of the story I would completely agree with you.

Quite frankly I thought it was the end of the story. Anyhow, I continued down the road for awhile not giving it another thought. And why should I have? It wasn’t a reckless move; I had more than enough room to ease in between the two cars. So one would think no harm no foul, right?

Apparently my move was so spectacular that it was of the Mario Andrettiesque variety. An older woman in the lane to my left pulled up beside me and tried to get my attention. Being that it was a nice spring day, I had my window rolled all the way down. When I noticed her she yelled to me “nice move!” She finished her comment off with a single finger salute to which I responded with a wide smile and a wave.

Now you might think that my immediate reaction was well intentioned and in line with our Christian values. A happy smile and a polite wave for the compliment just bestowed upon me. If that is what you are thinking than I believe you’d be correct. It wasn’t my immediate response that concerns me. It was the potential confession worthy thoughts I had as I continued on down the road that have me worried.

It is hard to be a good Christian sometimes. Before my conversion I wouldn’t have given my ill-fated thoughts any consideration. It is now that I am sincerely trying to live my life as God would want me to live it that I find it to be ever more difficult. I am not complaining mind you, I am just expressing my trials and tribulations. I guess I should just chalk it up to a lesson in humility. I must continue to strive to be a better Christian in all of my thoughts and deeds. If any of you out there have some advice on the subject, my ears are open.

God Bless,

-Scott

The Day God Became a Red Sox Fan

It was a cool night on October 17, 2004. I remember it like it was four years ago. The Boston Red Sox were down 0-3 to the dreaded New York Yankees in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series. It was on that night the Red Sox began their “Reverse the Curse” campaign. The Sox went on to win four in-a-row and were crowned ALCS Champions. They then went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. They were Champions once again! It took eighty-six years worth of blood, sweat, and tears but the beloved team of Red Sox Nation finally brought another championship home to their fans.

So does this make God a Red Sox fan? Probably not, but let me live in my own little world, will ya? My twisted little example stems from a recent dinner table conversation with my family. One night our trivial banter of “how was your day today?” turned into a discussion about God. The focus of the discussion turned towards predestination. We have all heard the phrase that everything happens for a reason. Some members of my family believe that God is fully aware ahead of time how everything, everywhere is going to turn out before it, well; …..turns out.

I am not too sure that I can subscribe to this methodology. I think it might be because I am uncomfortable with the feeling of someone knowing what I am going to do even before I do it. I believe in free will as it is described in the Bible. God gave each one of us the ability to act on our own accord and to make our own decisions. In a sense I guess I feel that if God already knows my every move that my will is no longer free.

One could argue that by subscribing to the concept of predestination doesn’t essentially strip one of their free will. Even though God has the script of the real life movies for all of mankind, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he wrote the screenplays. I guess it shouldn’t bother me, but it does. I know God is all powerful and ever living and that the mere 10% I use of my little brain that I cannot even begin to fathom his all knowingness.

So how do I carry on? Quite frankly I forget about it. Not with a conscious effort mind you. It’s just that my short term memory isn’t worth a darn. But every once in awhile this thought skips back into my stream of consciousness and I have to deal with it. One of the big 4 TV networks used to run an ad campaign for their sitcom rerun season which went something like “if you haven’t seen it, then it is new to you.” I guess I should subscribe to this line of thinking. Even if God already knows my every move it shouldn’t matter, because it’s new to me.

God Bless,

Scott