Bruce Jenner, One Christian's Response

Earlier today, I took a peak at my Facebook news feed.  I saw that Bruce Jenner was trending because he has appeared as a woman on the cover of a magazine.  My first response was to post something, not something in support, but rather a mean indictment.  It most likely would have included some mocking and name calling.  For some reason, I didn't.  The only thing that I can think of to explain it is that the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that it wouldn't be the Christian response.

I have decided that Bruce Jenner should not be treated cruelly by those who disagree with his lifestyle choice.  Name calling and mocking should not be the response of the Christian.  Nor should Jenner be celebrated for his "braveness" in deciding to publicly become a woman as the left and the media are quick to do.  Instead, he should be seen for what he is, a fallen and broken man desperately in need of the grace and love that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

So, I will not be joining in any mocking or cruelty towards Bruce Jenner.  Nor will I be posting any pictures of the magazine cover where he appears as a woman.  I will not refer to him as a she for he was created a man and will remain a man in my eyes.  I will not call him by his chosen female name.  I do not want to do anything to glorify this choice of his.  Instead, I will pray that he find the peace that is available through Christ.

Leaving Seabrook Baptist Church

Jesus making wine from water in The Marriage at Cana, a 14th-century fresco from the Visoki Dečani monastery (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am not sure when I started to get disenchanted with my time at Seabrook Baptist Church.  There are two things that stand out in my mind as I look back on things.

The first thing was when the pastor of our church said a few things that I felt were insulting to my (or our collective) intelligence.  Now, keeping in mind that this is a Baptist church and one of their tenets in no alcohol.  At the time I was not drinking.  It was one of the periods in my life when I abstained from consuming alcoholic beverages.  I have never felt that the consumption of alcohol was a sin, but the excess consumption of it (getting drunk) is, not to mention that the consumption of alcohol can lead one to lower their inhibitions and do things that are sinful.

During one particular sermon, the pastor was teaching on the passage in the Gospel of Mark where Jesus talks about how one would not put new wine in old wine skins otherwise the skins would burst.  The pastor made the argument that the new wine was not wine, but was instead grape juice.  To me, that stretched the boundaries of logic.  After all, Jesus was often accused of being a glutton and a drunkard.  To me, I logically came to the conclusion that Jesus did in fact partake of wine. 

Perhaps the biggest thing that happened, was due to some things that were happening in my personal life.  When I began going to Seabrook, I was working my way through college at a small, local grocery chain.  It was a union shop, but had a much lower pay scale that the other major chains in the area.  At the time, I was making $5 per hour, which was a good bit better than minimum wage at the time.  I didn't have a lot of money, but I had enough for what I needed.

One of the larger chains in the area, Memco Stores, was getting ready to open two new stores in the area, one very close to where I lived.  They were a part of the larger union contract.  I was able to get a job with them.  I more than doubled my previous hourly rate.  On top of that, they offered double time as a premium if you worked on Sundays or holidays.  My previous job only offered time and a half.  I started signing up for a lot of Sundays.  It was over $20 per hour.

With my new job, I started to not attend services at Seabrook as often.  Sadly, my new found gold mine of cash wasn't to last very long.  The company decided that they could no longer afford to pay the high union wages they were required to pay under the union contract and decided to leave the area.  Why they would go to the expense of opening two new stores and then decide to close them and all other stores two months later still baffles me.

I believe it was a Saturday night and I had just finished my shift.  After counting out my register, the managers informed me that I would no longer be needed.  I knew it was coming, but I was still stunned.  I went out to my car and it wouldn't start.  The battery had died.  I had to have my father come out to help me.  It was a rough night.  I had just lost a good paying job, and on top of that I had to buy a new battery for my car.  So, I did something I hadn't done in a couple of years.  I bought some beer.

Later that night, or maybe the next night, I was talking on the phone to one of my closest friends at church.  I told her what had happened and about buying and drinking some beer.  Instead of being compassionate and encouraging, her response was, "Oh, Richard," in a very condescending and disappointed tone like I had committed some grievous sin.  I pretty much stopped attending the church after that.  Perhaps if she had encouraged me to put it behind me and move forward things would have been different.  As it was, I was very hurt.

In retrospect, it was wrong for me to let somebody else's disappointment in what I did affect my attitude towards the church.  Unfortunately, I am a flawed individual living in a world of flawed individuals.  It is also a behavior that I have repeated at subsequent times in my life, but I am getting ahead of myself.  I will get to more of that when I talk about the next phase of how I got to where I am today.

Riding the Bus

First Baptist Church of Seabrook (but not my Seabrook Baptist Church) (Photo credit: Houstonian)

My first regular exposure to church came when I was in the seventh grade and just starting junior high school.  We had just moved to Seabrook, Maryland.  One of the local churches, Seabrook Baptist Church, had a bus ministry.  My parents decided it was time for me and my two younger brothers to get religion.  They signed us up to be picked up each Sunday morning to attend Sunday School and worship services.  For some reason, they did not include our sister.  Since she was six years younger than I was, perhaps they thought she was too young.

So, every Sunday morning, my two brothers and I would get up early, put on nice clothes and wait for the bus to pick us up, just like it was a school day.  We didn't really have a choice in the matter.  I think there were also times when we wondered why we were being punished with going to Sunday school and church services while everybody else stayed at home. If we wanted to ride the bus home, we had to wait until after the worship service as the bus only ran before Sunday school and after service.

The man who was our deacon and picked us up in the bus was a very nice man by the name of Darwin Spinks.  He truly was a gentle man in every aspect.  He was very soft spoken and kind.  A few years later, during what would be my second tenure at Seabrook Baptist, I came to understand that more fully, but that will come in a later post.

Since Sunday School was divided up by different grade levels, I was in a separate class from my two younger brothers.  After Sunday School, we would find each other and sit together during the worship service.  During one worship service, one of my brothers made a decision to go forward and profess faith in Jesus.  He would be scheduled to be baptized a few weeks later during a Sunday evening service.

During the morning worship service of the Sunday that my brother was to be baptized, I made a decision to go forward as well.  Normally, they waited a few weeks between your profession of faith and your baptism, but since my brother was already scheduled to be baptized the night, the church agreed to let me get baptized on the same night.

After my brother and I were baptized, we attended church for a few more weeks.  Then, we just stopped getting on the bus on Sunday mornings.  I wouldn't attend church on a regular basis until I was in my college years.  I didn't completely abandon wanting to learn about Jesus.  I would still read my Bible on occasion, but it wasn't a regular thing.  So the search would continue.