Legalism and Gnosticism
So the last several days have involved lots of "Law" readings from the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures): as in "thou shalt die if thou dost not believe, and the unbelievers will die by the sword, death death death, yay!" It's been getting awfully frustrating. And in classes everybody and their brother is talking about the three uses of the Law and how it HAS to be balanced with the Gospel of mercy. And yet today, during chapel, the prayer response was "Your mercy is great" and it was incredibly ironic! Before the gospel reading, I said in an aside to a friend, after the OT reading, that "It sounds like death but it must be Jesus!" And then the reading was "Who do you say that I am?" from John, and Gnosticism entered the room, and believe me the sermon didn't help. That's odd, I thought, I could have sworn Lent was in spring!
So grr. Can I have some Gospel now, please? BEFORE Christmas?
But to be fair, I'm frustrated about lots of things. My parish education class is incredibly unclear on reading assignments. I've got lots of paperwork to do (like getting a passport and such) and I don't know when to do it. I've lost track of so many things in my email inbox that it's incredible and unfair to others. And figuring out how to get organized is driving me crazy. I've been forgetting to check email and snail mail for days at a time because I freak out about how far behind I am and try to hide my head in the sand. And it's only the second week of classes, so I haven't figured out what I can safely ignore yet and I'm still in the "must do everything, ack!" stage.
And yes, the conservative religious right is a danger to the church, and yes I'm delighted that we're all in agreement about how legalism is bad, but I have yet to hear anyone talk about what we can and have and will DO about it. Because we don't do PR, we're Lutherans!
Oh, and my teeth are still giving me problems, and with no dental insurance and very little time that a dentist would like, and with my dentist in another state, I don't know what I can do about that. And there don't seem to be any instant ways to lessen the sensitivity, though it isn't as bad today. And I'm not looking forward to the lecture and guilt trip I'll probably get when I go because I'm actually 9 months late now getting these cavities taken care of.
So grr. Can I have some Gospel now, please? BEFORE Christmas?
But to be fair, I'm frustrated about lots of things. My parish education class is incredibly unclear on reading assignments. I've got lots of paperwork to do (like getting a passport and such) and I don't know when to do it. I've lost track of so many things in my email inbox that it's incredible and unfair to others. And figuring out how to get organized is driving me crazy. I've been forgetting to check email and snail mail for days at a time because I freak out about how far behind I am and try to hide my head in the sand. And it's only the second week of classes, so I haven't figured out what I can safely ignore yet and I'm still in the "must do everything, ack!" stage.
And yes, the conservative religious right is a danger to the church, and yes I'm delighted that we're all in agreement about how legalism is bad, but I have yet to hear anyone talk about what we can and have and will DO about it. Because we don't do PR, we're Lutherans!
Oh, and my teeth are still giving me problems, and with no dental insurance and very little time that a dentist would like, and with my dentist in another state, I don't know what I can do about that. And there don't seem to be any instant ways to lessen the sensitivity, though it isn't as bad today. And I'm not looking forward to the lecture and guilt trip I'll probably get when I go because I'm actually 9 months late now getting these cavities taken care of.