What Do You Believe?
Every year at the
Great Big Gathering of the Righteous
the young wannabes would
stand so tall before the assembled
to be asked the all-important what-do-you-believe-about questions in order to determine their fitness for the furtherance of the faith. What-do-you-believe-about women preachers? What-do-you-believe-about gays? What-do-you-believe-about tongues and healing? What-do-you-believe-about the just war? For years at the Great Big Gathering of the Righteous an old rubbled-hearted pastor in his out of fashion rags would rise in the rear of the room to ask the same nagging question to the young minds without scars: What-do-you-believe-about the blood? Those first few years the question caught them off guard but after that they came ready with polished answers tailored for publication. For years this happened at the Great Big Gathering of the Righteous who, if we’re being honest, were embarrassed by not only the pastor but his annual bloody question. Finally the pastor’s heart gave out and he died. You’d think at least one righteous picked up that torch of a question to carry it. But you’d think wrong, no not one. The man and his question were ashed by the hotter topics of the day. *Based on a story told to me and others by Eugene Peterson.
to be asked the all-important what-do-you-believe-about questions in order to determine their fitness for the furtherance of the faith. What-do-you-believe-about women preachers? What-do-you-believe-about gays? What-do-you-believe-about tongues and healing? What-do-you-believe-about the just war? For years at the Great Big Gathering of the Righteous an old rubbled-hearted pastor in his out of fashion rags would rise in the rear of the room to ask the same nagging question to the young minds without scars: What-do-you-believe-about the blood? Those first few years the question caught them off guard but after that they came ready with polished answers tailored for publication. For years this happened at the Great Big Gathering of the Righteous who, if we’re being honest, were embarrassed by not only the pastor but his annual bloody question. Finally the pastor’s heart gave out and he died. You’d think at least one righteous picked up that torch of a question to carry it. But you’d think wrong, no not one. The man and his question were ashed by the hotter topics of the day. *Based on a story told to me and others by Eugene Peterson.
no words..just sadness
Thanks, Sandy.
Thank you, John and Eugene. May we all pick up that torch…Lord Jesus, thank you for ‘the rubble hearted pastor in his out of fashion rags’.
Hi, Ruth. You are welcome.
Oh thats good.
Hey, thanks so much!
thankful for your voice….you lend words to those of us that ramble and claw towards the light. Makes my heart hurt a little….
Thank you very much. And yes, makes mine hurt a little too.
Oh my goodness, John! This so beautifully and specifically describes the current state of far too much of the evangelical church. We have conflated the peripheral with the central, and are losing our way. Oh Lord, bring back a few old preachers, with great wisdom and the guts to speak it. Thank you so much for this.
Hi, Diana. Thank you!
Feeling a little “ashed” myself, and thankful for this call to the Center — who is also the Circumference (I think that’s another Eugene Peterson-ism).
Thanks, Michele!
wow….the last line stopped me cold, the preacher’s words being ‘ashed out’ by hotter topics.
wow.
Thank you, Joy. I hope you are well.
only hearts weep the bloody answer
Lord have mercy on us all
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This is ‘stop-in-the-tracks’ hard-hitting and powerful. What a mighty wordsmith you are, John! And what a strong sentiment to leave us with. What about the blood, indeed? Getting back to the essentials and making first things first is so important. Thank you.
Ah, and here you are…asking slant. On this here Internet, we aren’t the “Great Big Gathering of the Righteous,” but we are rightly asked, “What do you believe about the blood?” I don’t have a polished answer, but I’ll treasure these things, pondering them in my heart.