Surely/Surly
For at least a week last summer I snickered at the sign in front of Oak Grove Baptist Church every day on my way home: “Surly Jesus will come.”
My friends and I had great fun imagining being fed of the loaves and fishes of Surly Jesus. One friend wrote a little skit about Surly Jesus being so surly after spending days on end just looking for a place to go to the bathroom in private without 5000 people right on his heels.
Unfortunately, Surly Jesus is the only Jesus some people know. Surly Jesus inspires churches to make a big deal out of what kind of music the youth group listens to and to believe that the whole place will come crumbling down if Great Aunt Edna’s overgrown azaleas are dug up in favor of more contemporary landscaping. Surly Jesus doesn’t like strangers and thinks that tradition is more important than kindness. Surly Jesus thinks the thermostat needs to be at set at least ten degrees higher or lower than whatever is comfortable for most people. Surly Jesus is a little shocked at women in pants. Surly Jesus thinks divorced people ought to find somewhere else to go to church. Surly Jesus thinks the children are unruly if they stay in the sanctuary for service and that they aren’t being taught proper discipline if they don’t. Surly Jesus has issues, lots of issues. He makes people tired and surly just trying to keep up.
Sometimes you just have to sit back and wonder, “Whatever happened to Surely Jesus will come”?
Surely Jesus…Surely Jesus.
He’s the nice one. He’s the one who remembers that it was always supposed to be about loving one another and that nothing else really matters at all. He’s the one I want to hang around with.
My friends and I had great fun imagining being fed of the loaves and fishes of Surly Jesus. One friend wrote a little skit about Surly Jesus being so surly after spending days on end just looking for a place to go to the bathroom in private without 5000 people right on his heels.
Unfortunately, Surly Jesus is the only Jesus some people know. Surly Jesus inspires churches to make a big deal out of what kind of music the youth group listens to and to believe that the whole place will come crumbling down if Great Aunt Edna’s overgrown azaleas are dug up in favor of more contemporary landscaping. Surly Jesus doesn’t like strangers and thinks that tradition is more important than kindness. Surly Jesus thinks the thermostat needs to be at set at least ten degrees higher or lower than whatever is comfortable for most people. Surly Jesus is a little shocked at women in pants. Surly Jesus thinks divorced people ought to find somewhere else to go to church. Surly Jesus thinks the children are unruly if they stay in the sanctuary for service and that they aren’t being taught proper discipline if they don’t. Surly Jesus has issues, lots of issues. He makes people tired and surly just trying to keep up.
Sometimes you just have to sit back and wonder, “Whatever happened to Surely Jesus will come”?
Surely Jesus…Surely Jesus.
He’s the nice one. He’s the one who remembers that it was always supposed to be about loving one another and that nothing else really matters at all. He’s the one I want to hang around with.
posted by Sharon Gerald | 5:22 AM
2 Comments:
In my free association--and pridefully thinking anyone cares about my free associations--I was reminded of a comedian my nephew likes--T. Bubba something (the comedian, not my nephew. I know his name). He says that Baptists don't believe in premarital sex because it could lead to dancing.
In the churches of my youth--which often scared me silly, though I never talked to anyone about my fear of the fires of hell the preachers talked about--there was an undue amount of time spent on the don't. Don't go to movies on Sunday. Don't sew on Sunday. Don't dance. On and on.
Like all changes, perhaps we've gone too far in the other direction (an idea that I'm not the first to voice). You know, never getting beyond the "God is love" mantra and somehow promoting God as the Great Big Sugar Daddy in the sky.
Jeanne
I've wondered about the same thing, Jeanne. I really struggle sometimes with the conflict in my own mind between a God of judgment and a God of unconditional love. Basically, I believe that if your heart is in the right place, everything else will follow. However, the opposite of what I grew up with in the extreme legalism is this sort of New Age Christian tendancy to use the Great Sugar Daddy in the sky idea as an excuse for bad behavior. Some people will forgive themselves for anything just based on the belief that God has already forgiven them.
Once someone told me that all of his sins past, present and future had been forgiven, so he was free to do whatever he wanted.
Somehow, I think he missed the point.
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