This
Mother’s Day I wonder what my Mother, Edith
Henderson Bowden (1918-1986), would say about
her beloved Methodist
Church. She
might say, “Methodists?
Well bless their hearts, too many of
them are lost.”
Her look -- ‘The Look’ -- would
speak more. Anytime
a Southerner says, “Well, bless his
heart”, substitute the words “That stupid
idiot.” Or
stronger words.
Actually,
the sissy Christian Methodists should thank
the cross-dressing, inclusive Goddess of their
imaging that my Mother isn’t around today.
She would loom over them – at five
foot four – and with that pointed finger
raised and aimed, Mama would’ve set them
straight. The
apologists for the holiness of anal sex, would
learn a new meaning for ‘fear of the Lord’
and she would’ve never raised her voice.
Of
course, her Methodist worldview wasn’t the
wimpy, weak, watered-down Christianity of half
the church today.
I teased her on her death bed that she
was the re-incarnation of Jean Calvin.
She laughed and said, “Well, bless
your heart.”
My
Mother was the kind of Methodist who taught
her kids Sunday School at our breakfast table.
She intertwined the Bible and family
lore into a single string of life lessons.
She held her spatula like a professor
and instructed:
You
can handle anything in life – no matter
what. The
Lord will never give you a burden you can’t
bear.
You
can control physical pain.
Don’t cry, just grit your teeth.
You
failed/came in second/were hurt/lost/etc. for
a reason. God
is preparing you for greater tests ahead.
God
has a plan for your life.
It’s to do for others.
It isn’t about you.
Moderation
in all things.
Life
is supposed to be hard.
Life is seen through a veil of tears.
Easter
is the happiest day of the year.
All
good things come from God.
Always give thanks.
Better
to do without than to have ill-gotten gains.
Be
kind and respectful to people who serve you,
have less, know less.
It’s
not what you have, it’s who you are.
Character counts.
Your
name is all you really have in life.
Many
things are worse than death, like shaming your
name, your family.
This
is the day the Lord has made, rejoice in it -
every day. No
matter what.
The
answer to the question is in the Bible.
It’s the Word of God.
And
more…
Apparently,
like Mother, a majority of Methodists in their
national meeting found an answer to homosexual
clergy in the Bible.
But, they lack the mechanism to
discipline the clueless churches and juries
who failed to sanction a lesbian minister.
Too bad.
Mother loved our homosexual/lesbian
relatives as much as anyone.
Yet, she never exalted their sexual
perversion, just as she never honored
adultery, incest, bestiality – as the Bible
teaches. The
Word of God was clear and convincing in her
life.
Her
personal closeness to Jesus gave her such
courage. The
doctors didn’t figure out what killed her
until the autopsy.
Later, they wrote me a letter praising
the remarkable grace and courage she showed.
My Methodist Mama never complained.
Cancer, painful bursitis/arthritis, and
stroke never brought a whimper.
When we first saw my father’s body in
the funeral home, she laid hands and said,
“This is the house he lived in.”
Methodist discipline ruled her life as
much as joy, joy, joy powered it.
I heard her curse twice - when she
said, “Hell’s bells!”
I was shocked and very obedient.
Where is such discipline in the
Methodist
Church
?
If
Mother was here, instead of alive in Heaven,
the
Methodist
Church
would follow her or be split in two, with the
greater devotion going with her side.
Somewhere, there must be mighty Methodists.
It’s not my responsibility, since I
worship with out-of-the-closet-Calvinists –
the Baptists. But,
I know how hurt and ashamed she’d be for her
beloved Methodists to not see sin, love the
sinner and call sin – ‘sin’.
She’d
explain the errors of their ways to apostate
Methodists like Hillary Clinton.
Mama’s outwardly gorgeous, Southern
lady – from such humble but proud
circumstances - elegance would compliment her
inner beauty to strengthen her message.
Like Jesus, the tough love of right
over wrong would be bathed in loving kindness
and incredible power.
If Hillary and her ilk, insisted on
glorifying partial birth abortion,
homosexuality, appeasement to Islamists, etc.
as Godly goodness, Mother would respond,
“Well, bless your heart, honey.
I’ll pray you get back to God."
-- May
10,
2004
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