True Christianity

Just read an entry at Mambrino's Helmet regarding a controversy concerning an entry at the Virtual Occoquan. The "VO" is a monthy compendium of the best entries at Salon (and sometimes other blog-verses — I've even seen an entry from blogspot!); normally, these entries generally revolve around a central theme.

A couple of times now, this virtual gazette has featured writing by Real Live Preacher, a minister who lives in Ft Worth, TX. The reason is simple: this guy can write circles around most of us — and he clearly loves it. What I gather from the entry at Mambrino's Helmet is that someone wrote to the editor objecting to xtianity being forced down their throat.

Well, it seems to me this person was just looking for a reason to complain. The table of contents in "VO" clearly lists the author, and one has to expect a certain type of content from a site called "Real Live Preacher." If you're virulently anti-christian, don't click on that link. Problem solved.

But it also reminds me of an incident which occured when I was working at KGOU, the NPR affiliate in Norman, OK. I was the dj for "Ambient Morning Music" (ie, "new age") Saturday & Sunday mornings. On Sundays, my music program would be followed by New Dimensions, a very thought-provoking program which explores every possible facet of human belief (or unbelief). One morning, the guest was christian. Someone called to complain, and asked if I listened to the program.

Well, I did listen to the program, and could honestly answer that guests on New Dimensions were more likely to be Buddhist or sympathetic to some form of Buddhism. The christian was actually an anomaly.

Now, I haven't read all the blogs at Salon. I have a great respect for them all, and would love to be part of that virtual community — it's just the inner miser that prevents me. But most do not talk about religion one way or the other. One exception is my friend, Dr. Omed. And if you go to a site that bills itself as a Tent Show Revival, with a banner that celebrates the "dancing Elders of the Seventh Day Atheist Aztec Baptist Synod," you better be prepared for some anti-xtian talk. Not to mention some especially naughty nuns.

Mambrino's Helmet has hinted at his xtianity, and I gather he is at the liberal end of the spectrum. Based on comments posted here and elsewhere, I believe paulapalooza is a xtian. Christopher Key, who posts at The Barbaric Yawp has mentioned being an Episcopal priest at one time, but I have no idea whether he still considers himself xtian — he may prefer to be a Whitmanphile.

The point of a collection like the Virtual Occoquan is to provide people a way to discover new blogs, the best writing, images, ideas, and so on. If one of the best writers in the community happens to be xtian, so be it. And the Real Live Preacher is by far one of the best writers I've read on any topic, anywhere, so far.

If one of the most interesting spaces in the Salon blogsphere happens to atheist, great. If Rayne Today is Buddhist, and still deserves a read, so be it.

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I come back now to my friend, the good Dr. Omed. As my introduction to his chapbook explains, we've known each other since high school. He has always been a faithful atheist, I have taken a long circuitous route back to faith, back to the xtian pew.

It seems that Dr. Omed does drop by this site on occasion to check up on me, for he has posted a response to my entry below. He writes: "His Loveliness the Fair and Balanced Pope (SDAABS) urges all pilgrims and seekers to visit a true xtian in order to have a basis for comparison when reading of the antics of peckerwood "prayer warriors" and Fundy Bundy serial killers for Christ." I am amazed that my faithful atheist friend would refer to me as a "true xtian".

Which makes me ask what a "true xtian" would look like. To beat one of my favorite horses, the word "Christian" means "Christ follower" not "Christ believer". One follows Christ by trying to be Christ-like (another way to interpret "xtian"). With Rev. Newell, I believe we become more Christ-like as we become more truly ourselves.

We inherit a spark of the universe at birth, which is essentially good. Many things tempt us away from this, most of which I believe at heart are childish. As we truly mature, we can set aside childish things and reclaim that spark. We can nurture it back into being. We may call the expression of that spark "Yahweh", "Buddha", or "Gunga Din", it does not alter the nature of the spark or its dwelling in us.

If, as Meister Eckhart says, the soul is naked of anything that has names, so is God; so is that divine spark of the universe.

I'm going to talk about this more later, as I report on part two of the Celtic Workshop, but according to the Celts, God did not stop creating on the seventh day. The creation is on-going. God continues creation through us, and is continually re-creating each one of us.

We are called to be God's hands and feet in the world. That's what being a "true xtian" means to me. If I can be an icon of the divine for anyone, even for my faithful atheist friend, then I have been truly blessed.