SUNDAY NIGHT LIVE!
A DEVOTIONAL ESPECIALLY CHOSEN FOR MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF THE SMOKING CHRISTIAN
Religious people love to hide behind religion. They love the rules of religion more than they love Jesus. With practice, Condemners let rules become more important than the spiritual life.
John Mackie was the president of the Church of Scotland after World War II. With two other ministers from a rather severe and pietistic denomination, he traveled to remote parts of the Balkan Peninsula to check on missionaries they supported.
The three clergymen called on an Orthodox priest in a small Greek village. Excited to see the visitors, the priest offered the clergymen a glass of rare and expensive wine. Horrified, the two pietistic ministers refused. Dr. Mackie, on the other hand, took a glassful, sniffed it like a wine connoisseur, sipped it, and praised its quality. He even asked for another glass. His companions were noticeably upset by Dr. Mackie's behavior.
Later, when the three men were in the jeep again, making their way up the rough road out of the village, the two pious clergymen turned on Dr. Mackie.
"Dr. Mackie," they said, "do you mean to tell us that you are the president of the Church of Scotland and an officer of the World Council of Churches and you drink?"
Dr. Mackie had had all he could take, and his Scottish temper got the better of him. "No, I don't," he said, "but somebody had to be a Christian!"
(Don McCullough, "The Trivialization of God," Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1995)
Good night, my friends! Sleep well! See you tomorrow!
7 Comments:
Shilodude,
good story and thank you for sharing it with us.
You could submit this story to the Wheaton College student newspaper if you could please end the story with Pastor Mackie taking the wheel of the Jeep and driving it off of a cliff and killing all three men instantly.
Otherwise, it's fine.
Actually the Jeep could be driven toward the cliff and then miraculously (as if protected by angelic beings) veer back onto the road and continue on their way toward enlightenment. Each man given a 2nd chance to see past his own selfish pride.
YB of the SC,
Have you been watching "Touched by an Angel" reruns?
No the Jeep did, in fact, drive off the cliff but due to global warming and the melting of the polar ice cap they landed softly in a swamp. Realizing their good fortune they decided to build an emerging church. They built it up from nothing. When they started, all there was, was swamp. Other clergy said it was daft to build a church in a swamp, but they built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, they built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So, they built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp, but the fourth one... stayed up! And it became the strongest emerging church on the Balkan Peninsula.
Mr. Yak,
So are you saying that it emerged from the primordial ooze in the same way that our ancestors did before they evolved? Is there a significant parallel between the emerging church and evolution?
Quite right!
One can see the hand of God everywhere.
I was thinking about trying to introduce a new series with my Sunday Night Live! post. I thought, "Hey, it would be a good idea to try to put in something kind of spiritual on Sunday evenings!" What was I thinking? Am I surrounded by Philistines? Cretins? No, I know that's not true. You guys are really something, you know that? I love you all!
Post a Comment
<< Home