Going up to the spirit in the sky

In the time I have been in Carroll — roughly

three months, though it seems longer than

that — I have noticed a great many things

about this community. Well, not so much

a great many things as a few things over

and over again.

One is that everybody knows everybody

else and if they don’t know you, they get

this expression on their faces like “I wonder

who that is and what they are doing here.

I also hope they are not going to do crimes.”

Things seem to get done the way they

have always been done. I doubt that anyone

in the various administrative capacities in

the city, and county et al are bad people or

hiding anything. Quite the contrary. It’s

just easier to get things done when talk

about them outside a meeting and get the

public vote over quickly. No one likes to

be watched while they work, it’s unnerving,

but then democracy is funny that way.

Religion seems to be a pretty important aspect

of daily life. Not in its actual practice, mind

you, otherwise we’d see a lot of asceticism and

flagellation in the streets. But the institutions

are all over. You’ve got Catholic schools, churches

of all stripes and, when I’ve gotten the chance to

chat with folks, service to our Lord seems to be a

primary reason for doing just about everything

from starting a Relay for Life team to building

houses for Habitat for Humanity. Religion is as

good of a reason as any to do good things, I’ve

always said.

As for myself, I wasn’t in town for more than

a week before I started getting letters asking

me to join various churches. Now, set aside

for the moment that my name isn’t in the

phone book and very few people knew I was

new to town, I wonder how my name got

bandied about to so many people so quickly. I

doubt God gave my address out to anyone.

That’s OK though, it’s not a sin to advertise.

I appreciate the invitation, but if I wasn’t a

Lutheran or a Catholic or an Evangelical before

I got to Carroll, what makes anyone think that

a letter in my mailbox was bound to convert

me? I have to wonder how many people this

actually works on?

“Hmm, what’s this? A letter from the local

Lutherans inviting me to come join them.

Well, that’s nice. I was Jewish, but I think

I’ll give Jesus a chance thanks to this more or

less randomly-issued invitation.”

Don’t get me wrong; it was a nice gesture,

but what if I had been a whacko? Sending

out invites to people you don’t know is a good

way to get all kinds of psychos packing the

pews on Sundays. I think Jesus can afford to

be more particular.

Though it might rankle a bit, I doubt God

really cares what church you go to since

church going and organized religion was not

really the point of all that good stuff Jesus

said. He just wanted us to live our lives by

his example.

One of my favorite passages is:
“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not

be as the hyprocrites are: for they love

to pray standing in the synagogues and

in the corners of the streets, that they

may be seen of men. Verily I say unto

you, They have their reward. But thou,

when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,

and when thou hast shut thy door, pray

to thy Father which is in secret; and

thy Father which seeth in secret shall

reward thee openly.” (Matthew 6:5-6)

It’s all about keeping vanity in check

and doing good for sake of doing good.

And whatever that reward is.

I, like so many other people, like the

idea of living by Jesus Christ’s example,

but are we really doing that? What does

it take to be a good person? A Godly

person? A wise person? Just, kind,

sympathetic? Is trying good enough?

What would Jesus do here?

I think the best reason to go to church

is to meet people, find a spouse, sign up

for charity work and hear a good sermon

once in a while. And that’s OK. But for a

truly spiritual experience, one rooted in

seriously deep religious experience, a life-

changing experience can one do that in

Carroll or even the United States these

days? We like things kind of narrowly

defined and boring. Not out movies.

There we like things exploding on the

screen. Even “The Passion of the Christ”

was a bit of a special effects flick.

Spiritual growth, like that of a good plant,

requires a bit of room for the roots to grow,

doesn’t it? You can’t expect a palm to

thrive in an 8-inch container, can you? So

how can you expect the soul of man to do

the same? Like that palm or any living

thing, the soul needs nourishment. It needs

sustenance, security and a good quality

fertilizer. For the soul, I think a good quality

fertilizer is good conversation, challenges,

ideas, and good works. Human beings need

to know they aren’t fenced in physically,

emotionally and, yes, spiritually.

Jesus was a thinker. Probably he was. We

can’t be totally sure, but let’s just go with

what we have been told because the man

and the legend are one today. Jesus was

one man whose ideas were so radical for

his time that even though he was killed

at 33, his words lived on for nearly 2,000

years after him. I don’t doubt that they

have been modified a bit, translations being

what they are, but the gist is still there.

I like that. Jesus said love one another,

be kind, turn the other cheek, be meek,

seek not the things of this earth. How cool

is that? And today, here in Carroll, we can

still abide by his words and live as he lived,

can’t we?

In another 1,000 years, we will all be dust,

but just by having been a part of this great

Judeo-Christian trial period, we will be a part

of history that shall never fade.