aefenglommung (aefenglommung) wrote,
aefenglommung
aefenglommung

Wherein I remind myself that Despair is a mortal sin

As I read what my fellow clergy post on various blogging and social media sites, I notice that there is a certain kind of evangelical that I react very badly toward. Humorless, graceless, always more against things than for them, always raging against our crazy, dying Church and its apostate leadership, but never taking any responsibility for their participation in it. The Inspector Javert type. Reading their screeds makes me feel the terrible sterility of today's evangelicalism.

On the other hand, I occasionally read what my progressive colleagues write, and I am oppressed by the utter emptiness of their souls. They're all politics and no perspective. There is no there there. They are like the dehumanized unbelievers of the N.I.C.E. -- Professor Frost or Deputy Director Wither -- mere shells of men. They recite slogans and think they have committed thought. Despite their talk of freedom from outmoded restraints, their every "liberation" enslaves more souls.

And these are the alternatives that grapple for control of the Church these days. These are our options! Dear God, are there no shepherds left to lead your people? Sometimes, I ask myself, Am I the only one left (or nearly so)? And then, I seem to hear a quiet voice, saying, "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." O Lord, may I be among their number!
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