August 24, 2010

Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)

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We were friends; or so I thought.

We seemed so alike; starting so long ago and ending so abruptly.

Echo: "What good fellowship we enjoyed as we walked together to the house of God."

Distances seemed narrowed by common concerns, confessions, and credentials; yet not even Christ's holy communion could cure the inevitable chasm.

What never commenced cannot be undone.

Echo: "It is not an enemy who taunts me. I could bear that. It is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me. I could have hidden from them. Instead, it is you, my equal, my companion and close friend."

It bothers me.

I mourn.

Echo: "How I weep for you, my brother...Oh, how much I loved you! And your love for me was deep, deeper than the love of women!"

It bothers You; mocking the intentions sealed by Your blood.

Sacramentally meant to unite has been tainted by divide; and faith's integrity and witness fall together.

Echo: "I am praying not only for these disciples. but also for all who will ever believe in Me because of their testimony. My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as You and I are one, Father - that just as You are in Me and I am in You, so they will be in us, and the world will believe You sent Me."

Images in the mirror confuse; re-imagining You for us and us for You.

Judgments must be reserved for...

Echo: "Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged."

Thank You, Lord, for being the friend who never denies, rejects, or runs away from us.

You love in spite of and not because of; overlooking what we damn in others.

Echo: "I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. And here is how to measure it. The greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends. You are my friends if you obey Me."

We seemed so alike; starting so long ago and ending so abruptly.

We were friends; or so I thought.

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Separation, segregation, sectarianism, and schism do not honor Him.

They testify to the dedication's insult in The Master Christian: "Dedicated to all who quarrel in the name of Christ!"

Some who pretend friendship with Him and His from the pseudo-security of their ecclesiastical ghettoes - for clubs must yield to Kingdom - forget their defiance; prompting an observation - the 7th reason for why I stay in while praying not of the mainline (scroll down to the 8/20 edition) - of those who separate unfaithfully or remain unfaithfully: "They did not understand the interrogatives of membership/ordination demanding declaratives or lied because it was the convenient thing to do at the time to get in or changed their minds and lack the integrity to demit."

Some people go through life wearing masks to conceal who they aren't.

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BBPBHO comes to mind.

Surely, by now, all but the comatose know he is not a patriot, Christian, Muslim, or...

He has no principles to perceive; leading with two feet planted firmly in the air and saying nothing about everything eloquently.

His constant campaign is election for an agenda scarcely revealed.

I think of an ecclesiastical bureaucrat who was described thusly: "He is not conservative. He is not liberal. He doesn't believe anything."

I'm also reminded of a funny told by the last great president of my alma mater: "He said, 'I don't know who I am or what I believe or where I'm going.' A friend comforted, 'Don't worry! Mainline denominations are going through the same thing.'"

Given what we've seen for too long over such a short period of time, I hope he has no clue.

The other possibility is too horrific to entertain.

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Friendship requires a common denominator.

That's why we lose what we never had.

Thoughts don't always betray facts.

Again, the sadness: "We were friends; or so I thought."

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Blessings and Love!