Leisure Club, Concord 1969

 

 

Leisure Club. Concord Junior High School September 1969.

That’s me, front row, second from left.

Students were required to participate in a club. I chose this one more for its name than the description with which it was accompanied…”activities will be playing cards, and board games”.

I was never much into board games or card games. But “Leisure Club” had an air of a British Gentleman’s Society.

So, I arrived.

I sat through the whole of the first episode, content to watch and observe.

You see, my activity is to observe, calculate, anticipate people in their activities, hobbies, and such, and then record my findings.

Oh for sure, I will become involved in a hobby or activity enough to gain a better idea of what it is my objects of observation are doing and how best to describe the situation.

But my true hobby is to write about such people and their hobbies, activities, accolades, and adventures.

People are genuinely fascinating!

Some play cards very competitively, truly reaching toward the win at any cost.

Others play cards quite casually, paying more attention to the jokes that classmates tell.

During leisure club there at Concord in 1969 I could light on to the subtle way in which people flirt and flourish in romantic innuendo.

Oh, I have notes I must never share!

After a few such episodes of casual observation rather than participation, Mr. Grieser and Mr. Cassels approached me and presented me with the ultimatum “You will have to participate or find another club”.

And so I found a game to join.

To this day, I am never as good at participation as I am at being witness to how others participate.

You see, I believe God creates each person as some truly wonderful work of divine art.

I love witnessing the interaction of divinely orchestrated human experience.

I have discovered and I assert, no matter who you are, you’ve got talent!

Participate in the divine orchestra.

I’ll take (discreetly descriptive) notes.

Are We Going to Have Church-Splitting Conflict Over Robot Preachers Next?”

 

 

Photo from Wikipedia. I claim Fair Use Doctrine

In 2020 we experienced church conflict over Covid 19 policies. Some churches, seeking the health of their congregants, developed online/internet ways of connecting rather than meeting in person. Many folk, claiming Hebrews 10:25 “ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing” left such churches.

During the 1970s there was church conflict over allowing Casino gambling in Indiana. Some claimed Matthew 27: 35 “And they crucified Him and parted His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They parted My garments among them, and upon My vesture did they cast lots.”

Early in the twentieth century many church folk insisted that women should not have the right to vote. You know, 1 Timothy 2: ¹² I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.”

During the 1880s as indoor plumbing was becoming a practical application there was church conflict. Many quoted Deuteronomy 23: ^12 “You shall have a designated area outside the camp to which you shall go. ¹³ With your utensils you shall have a trowel; when you relieve yourself outside, you shall dig a hole with it and then cover up your excrement.”

Of course a conflict over slavery in the 1800s

Ephesians 6: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.”

And then, reaching back into the 1600s. We have the Salem Witchcraft imbroglio. Many claimed Exodus 22: ^18” Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”

In all of these situations, conflicts, and disputations, many insisted on their own comfort, power, and willfulness regardless of who it may harm.

I become very befuddled and bewildered at how so many people will lift something out of the Bible as an excuse to not be like Jesus!

We have four very authorized biographies of Jesus which describe his ministry, teachings, actions, and attitudes.

If you claim Jesus as Lord, those biographies, or gospels, are a good place to fix your devotional reading.

I am convinced that the next church disaffiliation-prompting conflict will be over Artificial Intelligence. Well, think about it…robot preachers won’t abuse children or have affairs with congregants. But I suppose some will claim Genesis language and make the argument that robots are not created in the image of God. Perhaps they will claim 1 Corinthians 12 as the basis for church conflict. Supposed orthodoxy will be more important to them than the safety of vulnerable people in the congregation.

Whatever cases of conflict going forward, let’s not use lifted- out- of- context, misunderstood, Bible verses as an excuse to not be like Jesus.

Jesus himself has interpreted and defined for his followers the expectations of the Law…

Matthew 27: ¹² ‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.’

Let’s not treat that as a Pollyannic cliché.

Let’s treat it as a command from our Lord.