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Snow Theology

February 10, 2010

Posted by Kimberly Allen

In today's Word from Grace Street, Wallace+ can't get Pat Robertson's "repugnant" assertion about Haiti entirely out of mind. He explains why Robertson's theology is no more sound than a snow theology that says God made it snow on Sundays to give Richmonders a chance to sleep in.

Why has God snowed out Sunday services (some of them, anyway) at churches around Richmond for three of the last ten Sundays? Is God giving us a few Sundays off? "Richmonders," saith the Lord, "you deserve a little extra sleep, a few slow Sunday mornings. Relax; don't worry about getting down on your knees. In fact, put your feet up. You're doing just fine."

No, of course not. And yet Pat Robertson's pronouncement, a few weeks ago, about Haiti--in effect that, with the earthquake, Haiti got what it had coming--is no more sophisticated or, for that matter, sound.

Robertson has said that kind of thing before.  On hearing something like that, a part of me wants to just shake it off, give it little attention, and move on.  Keep it positive!  Right?!...  On the other hand, I haven't been able to put Robertson's statement entirely out of my mind, and a part of me wonders whether it is one of those moments to call a spade a spade, in the name of distinguishing between, again, sound and unsound theology; that is, dare I say, Christian and un-Christian theology. 

Surely a part of proclaiming the Gospel is, at times, saying what's not Gospel.

Click here to read the full message. 

For those who missed Robertson's prclamation, the Miami Herald has posted the segment to YouTube followed by a response from Haitian-American Hans Mardy during a meeting of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition.  

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A WORD FROM GRACE STREET

A Word From Grace Street, Wallace's weekly theological reflection, is sent by email to all who are interested. Sign-up above or read them below.

SERMONS

To Bethlehem; to Bethlehem, we have come.

And, of course, this Christmas, tonight, and tomorrow, new memories are being made; a Carol sung, pure and exquisite; an old friend; warm, endearing words exchanged; a first Christmas for a new grandbaby; a candle lit, a face aglow, eyes agleam.

The Pointer’s Point

More than fifty times, in his published writings, Barth refers to the Grunewald image; and, indeed, usually, it is precisely in reference to John,  and John’s relation to the figure of Christ; as he points.
Barth (and Grunewald before him) understood John’s sole purpose to be to serve as a pointer to Christ, a reference to Christ, a witness to Christ.

Keep Alert, Awake, and Watchful

On any given day, there are those things that would get our attention; those things that would bring fresh perspective; those things would remind us of what is most important, what is most true. If, that is, if we but notice. We never know when those things, those experiences, those people might come. And so it has always been, so it has always been.

The Rule of 72

The Rule of 72, they call it.  It’s a rule of thumb to figure how long it’ll take to double your money. If you know you can get 5%, on your investment, then you divide 5 into 72 and that tells you: it’ll take roughly 14 and ½ years to double your money. That’s the Rule of 72. Now, sometimes an investor doesn’t want to wait 14 and a ½ years, or however long the Rule of 72 tells you that you have to wait and so increased risks are taken. And sometimes you win, and sometimes you loose.

Walk the Way of a Servant

We all want, in the words of St. Paul, to “lead a life worthy of God.” A life worthy of God. Un-like the lives of the false prophets, of Micah’s day, or the false teachers of Jesus’ day, the scribes and the Pharisees, teachers of the law. Their lives are un-worthy of God, we are told, in no uncertain terms. In their hypocrisy, they serve, not God, not God’s people, but themselves.

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