04 June 2013

A Walk with Aqualung – Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

This was my introduction to Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson, Aqualung, and beginning to think for myself.  I went the wrong way for quite some time.  My journey was toward anger, hatred, and destruction.  Drugs and alcohol helped me along.  Loneliness and feelings of rejection were my constant companions.

I believe there are some wounds from which one never truly recovers.  Those inflicted on me both intentionally and unintentionally between ages eight and eleven created soil fertile for my descent into destruction.  I realize that this seems young but that does not change the truth of it.  I mastered hiding my pain and self-destructiveness.  I was brooding and miserable.

Music became my only friend for some time.  In the early seventies there was plenty of dark music.  Fortunately there was also Thick as a Brick.  This is a true concept album containing a single 43 minute song.  It is worth the listen but be sure to do so with a copy of the lyrics.

In 1974 I had another encounter with a man who would change my life.  I had plans to take my own life and this man saw through my bravado and reached out for the damaged child screaming inside me.  He patiently answered all my objections to God and acceptance of Christ. 

What broke my willful resistance to the love and grace that Christ offered was this man looking into my eyes and with no knowledge of my past or thoughts saying one simple thing.  He put his hand on my shoulder after listening to my objections to the church and smiled.  “God is not the kind of thing you wind up on Sunday’s and ignore the rest of the week.” 

I may have used my introduction to Jethro Tull to begin my path to hating God.  God used my love of Jethro Tull to draw me back to him.  No matter where you are in the theological journey I think that faith and following saved my life.  I do not hate anyone that believes differently than me.  I do not think that one can get around that being a part of any faith or being an atheist contains a measure of arrogance.  Believing in anything means that others are excluded.  This requires that one approach faith with humility.  In that is learning possible. 

I do know that I have learned that there is a vast difference between organized religion and following Christ.  I do not mean that church or a certain pattern of practice is wrong.  What I do mean is that choosing that pattern must be done with a firm understanding that it is the following and not the function that matters.

I have a friend who got some bad clam chowder at a restaurant in Florida about thirty years ago.  To this day he refuses to eat clam chowder.  I make really good clam chowder and it is never poison.  I have had bad clam chowder as well.  It just seems foolish to reject a food for life that is wonderful and can be safe to eat. 

Rejecting God because of the bad actions of some of his followers seems just as unthinkable to me.  That does not mean that I disrespect or dislike anyone who has.  Rather, it is my responsibility to cultivate love and humility that will allow others to see the difference between churches and Jesus.  It is not my job to covert others, to save souls, or to judge. 

It is my job to see Aqualung and have real compassion for him.  It is my responsibility to see Johnny Scarecrow and want him to have a coat and more.  I must brush aside wind up gods and caged images so that Christ can be seen for who he is.  Guilt and gilding are both improper ways to treat faith and following.  I must choose to live what I believe in a way that makes others feel accepted and welcome. 

What I believe is my choice.  What I do about it must comply with who Christ is in a way that is both confident and humble.  What I believe must be seen long before it is spoken.  I have failed in this in the past and should not be surprised at the damage it causes when I do so.  I do not pretend perfection.  I do with to be identified with both the crucified and risen Jesus.  By God’s grace I hope to live it out in a way that is honest and genuine.  You see after all is said and done, how I live out what I believe is not up to some religion, denomination, or system of theology.  It is truly, Dear Reader, Up to Me.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."

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