Yes, Holy Shit. Sometimes the stuff we hear being said by folks who like to consider themselves to be 'holy' people is - in my opinion - nothing but Holy Shit. That is, they make the notion of holy stink. It is the kind of stuff that divides - blames - persecutes - demeans - ridicules - belittles - condemns - and it is all done under the language of the blessed and eternal love of God. So, that which is really Holy - that which is in the image of God - that life that reflects a love for any and all even to the point of suffering for them - is made to sound and look cheap and quite the antithesis of Holy.
It is my opinion that whenever the language of Scripture is used to mark folks as defiled or be the ground from which some folks can label others as evil - dirty - demonic - etc., - shit flies. The Good News of the Eternal Reign of God is left behind and we are all left standing in the foul smell of our own notion of what is good and right and 'godlike'. Usually 'holy' folks - at least those who really get off on being considering themselves 'holy' - cannot stand being in the same room with the Jesus who intentionally eats and visits and heals and touches the refuse of the world.
So, I suppose, Holy Shit can be those words and actions that are full of violence - bigotry - fear - hatred - exclusion. It is the stuff that some people have told me has turned them away from being followers of Jesus. They hear and see nothing more than a reflection of a horribly broken world that has simply covered itself with the pious words - the perfume of religious language. Yet, such Holy Shit doesn't lose its smell and therefore, folks stay away.
Then again, I also wonder if Jesus was considered to be full of Holy Shit - in a very different way. So here, Holy Shit would be that which is the embodiment of God's love that is quite contrary to religious controls. The unbounded love of God manifest in the humanity of Jesus really repulsed the 'holy' people who could not and would not extend the love of God to any and all. Therefore, Jesus was peddling Holy Shit - something that needed to be cleaned up - rejected - exposed. It happens very quickly in religious circles. That which is over there - done by them - done like that - cannot be part of the Holy. In the Jesus story we see the Holy present and available in, with, and under all that the world labels as shit - dirty - vulgar - despicable. It then reveals itself as part of that pile of dung.
Rather than label others as nothing more than shit, we may do well to go stand in the shit and begin to understand how God is revealed there. This unbounded love will always insist that we get our lives into it - our hands into it - our feet into it - rather than use it as a weapon we throw at one another. It is then that we may experience with one another - something Holy.
TRRR
How do you tell people that Holy Shit is flowing out of their mouths without Shit flying out of ones mouth? I am tired of religious leaders and people using God to discriminate and exclude other people through arrogance - with threats of damnation from a jealous angry God. How do you change peoples minds that God is only loving, caring, inviting and forgiving unconditionally all the time 24/7/365? Why do people have to give God human characteristics that are filled with evil, jealousy, self-indulgence, and anger? Why do humans have to use religion/God as a weapon to demean and control people instead of using religion/God as an invitation to a loving, kind, and happy relationship that cures the pains and scares caused by the horribleness of fear? How do you over come hatred that seems to be winning over love? I guess I will never figure it out. I guess I will keep striving to love unconditionally. I guess I will look for loving behavior and kindness around me everyday. I guess I will try harder to give love and kindness when confronted with fear and hatred. I guess I will try to forgive with wreck-less abandon because I am a hope-filled romantic.
ReplyDeleteI am going to let me little light shine no matter how many people trying to snuff it out with Shit. Maybe that is how you get Holy Shit to stop flowing out of peoples mouths. I guess I have to keep giving a shit because it is the fertilizer that grows unconditional love.