The whore and the whorrible

I've been so pissed this whole week!  Its been a full time job keeping my anger all bottled up. Early this morning there was finally a break in the fury.

The reason for my rage...professional Christians strike again. I'm starting to tremble. I'm not zen enough to break it down for you in detail without whipping myself up into a furious frenzy. What happened? a troubled girl got her ass drop kicked out of the church. She was a commandment breaker FOR SURE! but she was breaking those commandments on her own time. She made the ginormous mistake of being honest and sharing her struggles. She expected grace instead of the judgement that she received. There's a lot more to it, but somebodies got to keep her blood pressure under control.

I got wind of the situation last Friday night. She had relapsed. She told me the sad story, crying extra hard when she got to the parts where the insults were supported by twisted scriptures. ..."he said that I'm not living a life pleasing to God jen...that my sins are disgusting...God can't mingle with sin. He said that I must not really know God and if I don't know God than he doesn't know me? i feel worse than empty...what about that night we were at the beach? do you remember what happened? do you remember our prayers? the wind, my peace, my hope? you said my heart was beautiful...it's not beautiful enough to get to stay..." Ugh! it went on and on.

I should explain that I hear these kind of stories all of the time. Women that have engaged in all manner of naughtiness naively seek some comfort and guidance from the church only to be met with condemnation and more often than not...."you're a raunchy skank...you're gonna burn in hell, but hey while I've got you here howza bout we make this a happy ending confession session". This isn't my first go round with a woman that has been worked over by a graduate of the Kirk Cameron school of theology.

Anyways the girl and I made plans to meet for breakfast the following morning. Didn't happen. She stood me up to be on life support. She attempted to meet her maker.

I've been a hostile psycho all week. This morning I was at the beach. I went back to the place that she referenced in our phone call. I was praying, "GOD are you kidding me with these assholes!!! I hate being this hateful! I hate that I know how real your love is and she doesn't. I hate that she's doubting the peace your love has brought her. I hate that you're being misrepresented by your representatives. The girl went looking for your love from the church, that's not what she got." whatever. i went back to hating.

On my way up the steps (i hate the steps btw) I saw my lame neighbor. He was having another one of his lame rip off garage sales. he was selling a framed poster of Carmine from Laverne & Shirley. It said "WWCD?". What Would CARMINE Do? ok that's not lame-that's hilarious!
hmm all Carmine ever did was make pizza, try out for talent shows and not have sex with Shirley...that doesn't help me cool my jets or right the wrongs of the church.

My even LAMER neighbor yelled down from his balcony..."heh heh I get it...like What Would Jesus Do?". Be impressed. He never gets ANYTHING!

Alright I'm game...WWJD? I think I know.

There's a story in the Bible about this one time when some of the church leaders were winding up to toss some rocks at an adulteress. She had broken the law and stoning her to death was the right thing to do. According to the story the woman was lying on the dirt when Jesus walked up. This is the passage of scripture when Jesus says, "let he that is without sin cast the first stone".  Then he drew a line in the dirt with the church leaders on one side and the woman on the other. He stood on her side. The Bible says that the mean men conferred while Jesus kind of scribbled in the sand. Nobody knows what he wrote, but whatever it was spooked the mean men and they took off.

Here's what I love about this story: This wasn't turning water into wine or making a blind man see. Jesus performed all kinds of miracles that were supernatural. Defending the whore from the whorrible was something amazing that the man Jesus did. Do you see what I see? Do you know what I'm saying? We could do that. No magic powers required to show someone love.

I can relate all over the place in this story. I don't want to hate on the whorrible anymore. The truth is it takes one to know one. I've been whorrible. 

I remember a time when I felt like ministry full-timers were hurling verbal boulders at me. I also remember how loved i felt when somebody stood up for me. It made me grateful, inspired me to do what i could do to become a greater gal.

It feels good to have my delightful disposition back intact. Realistically, I know that there'll be a next time. My temper will probably flare then to. I just want to remember when that day comes to chose to love instead of hate. I want to draw a line in the sand. Its not walking on water, but its still a miracle. Miracles are divine intervention. What's more divine than love?