Leave it up to the religious establishment to once again encourage a collective "DOH!" by those of us day-to-day Jesus followers who live out here in the real world. Give a check-minus to the Vatican who declared with confidence in an effort to be cool that Bart and Homer Simpson are--(drumroll, please...)--officially "Catholic."
Wait, what?
Never mind that they actually attend the Reformed Presbylutheran First Church of Springfield where Homer has prayed on occasion such prayers as, "I'm not normally a religious man, but if you're up there, save me, Superman!"
I think my favorite part of the article was the reason the Vatican newspaper gave for declaring the Simpson boys Catholic: They pray before meals.
Okay.
I wish I could write an open letter: To the Vatican and the Southern Baptist Convention and almost any time the religious establishment tries to make Christianity relevant in the New York Times, here's a newsflash: You're not helping. You do not realize how hard you make it for us regular everyday ministers to have conversations with burned out ex-churchgoers who use your media-laced tomfoolery as evidence of how out of touch church-types can be.
My friend Edward told me a story this morning during our Greek readings about a minister who began his sermon years ago with something to this effect: "Many of you do not give a damn about the poor and hungry right here in your neighborhood." The preacher then went on to illustrate that many church-types feel more strongly about the use of the word "damn" than the suffering of the disenfranchised.
Ouch. Good call.
So right now our church is spending the next month or so immersed in Acts 5-7. Throughout the passage, the church is trying to be faithful in the midst of a religious establishment that is only making things harder for them. Sounds familiar. Yet there is the Spirit of the Living God, taking Jesus' followers out of prison, putting them outside the wall, and telling them things like Acts 5:20-"Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life."
I wonder what the Vatican and religious universities and even our own local churches might accomplish if we placed our singular focus on proclaiming the simple message. I'm not holding my breath waiting on the establishment. But as far as local independent congregations of Jesus-followers... well... let's just say I am hopeful. Perhaps more than I have ever been.
Many of us have hope, however, not because of what's happening on the inside, but because of what God is doing to send us church-types outside the wall. We are beginning to see the value of church, not as a place to "go to" but a place "from whence we are sent out." Maybe even a place that doesn't use words like "whence" anymore. A place less concerned with pacifying each other and more concerned with putting our feet under the table of people like Homer Simpson who calls his preacher "Captain What's-his-name."
I think the other thing striking about the Vatican declaration of Homer and Bart as Catholics is who the article did not name: Marge, Lisa, and Maggie. The girls. Hip, cool, and relevant, huh? Oh yeah. Nothing says "I've got my finger on the pulse of this generation" like gender discrimination.
Plus, Marge is the one I would claim any day of the week. She's the one who said it best: "Our differences are only skin deep, but our sames go down to the bone."
