Ironies

We recently had a most enjoyable and delicious dinner with some friends from church, including some fellow ex-ECUSA refugees.  One told the story of how, a couple of years ago, they were attending an Episcopal church when the presiding priestess launched into a sermon describing how she would under no circumstances go to see The Passion of the Christ.  Apparently, she made quite a point of how she just couldn’t believe in a God who would send His Son to undergo the required punishment for man’s sins.  Then she finished her sermon, turned around to the altar, and – without skipping a beat – proceeded to recite the Nicene Creed.

Most of us suffer from a little cognitive dissonance from time to time – it’s part of how we figure out reality.  But for heaven’s sake, if you don’t think Christianity is true, then why do you insist on being a priest?  Couldn’t you make more money writing code, or clerking at a lawyer’s office?  Do you just get your jollies trying to tear apart the organization you claim allegiance to?  What on earth is your purpose in getting up every morning?  This can’t be a pleasant way to live.

I will never get it.

“for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:6-7, RSV)