A pinch of this, a dab of that, and I can be palatable to those who call themselves Christians and still be popular with those who do not identify in this way. A little Jesus will get me sober. A little Jesus will comfort me when I mess up. A little Jesus comes in handy when I need to feel that I am more than just me. A little Jesus means I can be what I am while claiming to be something more.
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… there are a lot of old sayings. For some, old means outdated. For others old means tested and true. Some will scoff, others will listen and apply, still others will avoid anything remotely linked to the wisdom of the past or even present day. From Shakespeare to Plato, from Jung to Nietzsche, from Grandma and Grandpa to schoolteachers or preachers, there will always be old (maybe not very old) saying(s) that are adopted or rejected not because we have thought them through but because we have relegated them to live or die in our minds based on how comfortable or uncomfortable they make us feel. Maybe the graveyard in our brains is full of life cut short because I don’t like to feel uncomfortable.
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The dictionary defines culture as, “the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time” (merriam-webster). There are variations of the definition, but they all point to a way of acting and interacting based on shared values/beliefs in a group of people. To have a culture is to have an identity or at least the beginnings of an identity on which we can build who we are and how we interact. I am fine with an accepted set of values defining how we involve ourselves in each other’s lives especially when they are based in the Bible. But even in communities of believers, it doesn’t take much to go from biblical culture to biblically based unbiblical behaviours.
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Oh, the good old days when everything was perfect; how I long for the days of my youth when life was simpler and cheaper. Well, to be honest, one of the reasons life was simpler was because I didn’t know how much things cost because I didn’t have to buy them, which is part of the reason that life was simpler. Sunday was church day, Tuesday was laundry day for clothes and Thursday was laundry day for towels and sheets. Dinner was at 6 PM, lunch always at noon. All I had to do was put my dirty laundry in its place and it would show up clean, and respond to my parent’s call for food and it would show up on my plate. Oh, The good old days!
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Lots of things happen and we try to understand. Some situations are predictable and therefore easy to understand. Others we can make sense of even if it is not the outcome we would normally expect. Then there are the situations far beyond what we would expect. I can, with some degree of accuracy, predict that a child with an upbringing that encourages questioning for the purpose of understanding and involves laughing together but never laughing at the child when the answer is obvious, will do well. Power dynamics in which the person perceived to have the power explains what is not understood in terms suited to the other person’s intellectual limitations and mental capacity will lead to a well-developed adult. If this continues through the teenage years, there is a higher degree of success for the maturing individual and a stronger relationship with all who pour into their lives but…
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Warning – independent thought may lead to cancellation. There are days that I worry what others will think about my thoughts. It is these days that I choose not to think or at least not to think out loud. Other times I deem myself to have reached a plane of philosophical depth that my thoughts, when revealed, cannot be dismissed. Then there are regular days that my thoughts are pedestrian, no, really, they are about pedestrians, how not to hit them at a crosswalk, how not to become one by driving recklessly and losing my licence etc. These are the days when thought is limited to the things that present themselves throughout the day. No depth, just trying to make it to tomorrow.
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