It was a beautiful, sunny day yesterday. As I sat in my office longingly looking out at the blue sky and puffy clouds, watching people come in wearing shorts and T-shirts I was a little bummed. After all this was the first nice day we had in the Northwest since November, well maybe that is a bit of a stretch, but not by much. The best part of the copious amounts of rain we receive every winter and into the spring is watching the migration of Calibeasts and the Fornian 's going south again.
I was sitting in my office a bit bummed. Whenever I get a bit bummed I try to cheer myself up by thinking about theological questions and all the doctrines that arise from them.
It never works, possibly because I am to depressed for theology to cheer me up, or more likely, thinking about theology and all the nuances that created denominations is depressing in itself, and frankly a bit boring.
Whenever I get to really pondering theology and all its nuances I start feeling like Marvin from The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy
Life, don't talk to me about life.
When I think about all the divisions caused I get a little sad.
Then I think of a conversation Luther, Zwingli and Pope Leo had all those years ago and it cheers me up.
It went like this:
So Luther, Zwingli and Pope Leo waked into a bar. You would have thought Zwingli and the Pope would have genuflected (That one was for Trevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvor).
So Luther, Zwingli and Pope Leo waked into a bar and sat down. The bartender asks if they would like to try a wine. they all nod. so the bartender asks them what kind of wine they would like.
Pope Leo immediately replies, "It does not matter what kind of wine you get, for once I bless it it shall no longer be wine but become the blood of Christ."
Luther immediately interrupts, "Nonsense, for although the blood of Christ will really be present in, with, and under the wine, the wine will still remain. Therefore, let us order the finest, sweetest wine thy have so that we may thoroughly enjoy the gift of God."
Zwingli then shakes his head, "You two are nuts! It is only wine and a sign of Christ's blood. therefore we should order the most bitter wine they have in order to better remember and think on His suffering and death."
The three continued to argue in circles for a while until Luther paused, looked at the bartender and replied, "I'll have a Sam Adams."
How did we get here? Well it is quite simple really. Luther wrote a letter and nailed it to a door (a practice that was widely regarded back in the day) and somebody took it and made a bunch of copies. Not only did they make a bunch of copies but they had to translate it from Latin into German first. It wasn't enough that this person made a bunch of copies, no, they had to hand them out to a bunch of people too!
This led to a revolt
Which led to a break from the Catholic church, which led to denominationalism, which led to multiple traditions, which led to varying beliefs, which led to different doctrines, and ultimately led to a very bad run-on sentence!
Take heart fellow ragamuffins!! If you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, that is all you need. Now go do what Jesus did and commanded. Love your neighbor as yourself. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned and the sick.
Oh, and go to church.
I think I have pontificated enough. I think I will go paddle.
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