Copper Chronicles

Somethin’ down south called having chu*ch. This can happen anywhere I go.

Having chu*ch is a little less structured than the Catholic Church I visited. Certainly more spontaneous than an articulately orchestrated Orthodox service. It happens sometimes even at a bus stop or grocery store.

I say: “How are you, today?” Somebody responds: “Hallelujah, the Lord is good!” I say, “Yes, Ma’am, He most certainly is!” Another say, “I’ been sore in my back for months and praise God, it’s feeling better today!”

“Uh- huh…Praise the Lord for His Mercy!” Says another lady, dressed from head to toe like a 1950’s movie star. She’s a knockout. And, she’s like 80 years old!

I like chu*ch. Seems a lot more like people are happy; so much so they can’t help talking about it! Black people and white people together.

A Pentecostal pastor I heard today said: “There is now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ.” He about exploded on stage like a stick of dynamite. Or, a fire hydrant when someone knocks it’s top off- gushing like a geiser!

The urgency with which he spoke reminds me when I was in first grade. There was a giant, frozen puddle on the playground. If I ran really fast and slid on my back, I could slide like 50 feet. It was the coolest thing my 6-year-old-self ever saw.

I ran around shaking the other children in excitement, telling them about the awesome slide! And, they had to come try it! But, nobody caught on. In fact, they looked at me uncertainly and went back to class without me.😔

But, I know now what the preacher was saying. He had experienced the coolest thing ever! He was going to hold on to me and wrestle with me like I was a bone and another dog was trying to steal me away.

He shook and shook and shook and wouldn’t let me go until I got it! (Figuratively speaking). And, I did😃

No condemnation! Shame and guilt do not define me, and cannot control me anymore! Jesus saves to the utmost. He is thorough. That’s the deal for those who accept Him and His forgiveness.

The Lord sees us as He made us. Originals-like at the beginning of all things. Not perfect of course yet- works in progress. But, not mangled and ugly, wanting to hide for fear and shame. He knows us AND He loves us.😃

That haunting, toxic train of thought-criticizing, reminding me of my failures- isn’t a Being who loves me. It’s that Other being.

I’ve heard people say that Scripture. It didn’t do much for me just stored in my head as words. It’s like data stored in a computer. Inoperative. It just exists, like me much of my life.

There’s something to be said for immersive education – experiencing love that shakes us awake. A soul gets sleepy from lack of oxygen and life-giving words of truth.

Maybe CNN which immerses us daily in misery and oppression should hire preachers instead- to tell us news. Maybe they wouldn’t go bankrupt!

Shake, Shake, Shake! Shake us Lord, until we wake up to who we really are and who You really Are! Amen.

‘That’s called Having Chu*ch!

Journeys make more sense when what a person is leaving behind (or escaping) emerges in the tale. This is that part of the story.

It is not clear who, what, or why my childhood was as it was. People ask: How can there be a God (who is benevolent) allow such things? My question is rather, “Why does anyone suppose we are entitled to anything? Ever?”

It’s possible what we view as good is subjective. Like, when I observed the unhealthy media addiction in young people. They seem hypnotized by flashing lights and endless stream of mindless muck. It’s like Hollywood only a thousand times worse in toxicity, in my opinion.

How can one think? Thinking is no longer necessary! The ‘World Controllers’ have had us on track to be obedient, global consumers since my lifetime, that’s for sure.

Human beings no longer need to live lives of meaning, purpose, or pursue ideals. They just need to obey their consciousness streams that have been carefully planned for their subjugation.

I had a dream we all lived at a Mall. There was no nature visible anymore but the sky. It was pale as Death.

In the tightly controlled New World Order, our minds were all that were necessary. It was subjugation and control with the promise of endless distraction.

In the Mall, people went from one media experience to the next, like they were shopping. No families, food, or fun parties. Just Zombies fulfilling their media addiction.

It is similar to my childhood watching T.V. A whole reality was downloaded into my being and made me scattered, disillusioned, confused. What else can we expect but Chaos, when things like television becomes the heart of a culture??

My dark past may be the work of a cold, unfeeling God Who really is not benevolent at all. Or, it could be work of another Being who knew one day, I would carefully expose the canopy of lies that has governed us for decades- destroying the earth and human beings in it. 🤔

This Being seems hell-bent on destroying everything else. Why would I be exempt from its plans?

All the beauty and goodness I’ve experienced has a purpose. It’s for my well-being and pleasure. The earth, the sky, growing things. This Being clearly loves me.

The Other must be responsible for destroying the earth and people in it. Hate seems to be its sole motivation.

It doesn’t make sense that One God is responsible for both peace and chaos; lies and truth; well-being and oppression. There must be two Beings with two opposing natures. And, they are at war.

One is subjugating human beings with fear, chaos and distraction. My Being is liberating us with truth, love and peace.

Is it an act of Love to allow me to live in a dark underworld for a time (my childhood) experiencing all things human beings experience– like pain, confusion, rejection, and terror? If it means I could save some from that darkness, I am glad I did.

My Being, the One I mention in my Chronicles, clearly is able to turn darkness into light. Restore things that are broken. Can communicate in darkness and pain or in beauty and light.

The universe speaks! It’s speaking now. I hear it roaring.

One observer expressed concern that I chose William Bligh as a character to play in my ocean voyage yesterday. A summary provided by ChatGPT will have to suffice until I can access a digital library and librarian with literary expertise. For now, Chat reports the common contention is the ornery sea captain was a tyrant that did not understand the feelings of his crew.

My contention is that Captain Bligh understood much greater feeling than his crew. He was just better skilled at sorting out relevant from irrelevant ones.

As Sailing Master with Captain Cook, he knew the threat of hostile natives. As a low-born citizen of British Empire, he suffered a lifelong struggle to earn respect from his peers. He faced often the terror that emerges on the sea; and, studied it dutifully and scientifically to protect his men and navigate it more skillfully.

So, Bligh ‘knew’, experienced, ‘felt’ the terror of being eaten alive. He felt the constant humiliation and bigotry of people’s low expectations. The sea, as a metaphor of Life Itself, he understood can be harrowing depending on how well sailors respect its demands.

Bligh experienced these things himself that’s why he understood them. That’s why he became a man that could accomplish the greatest sailing feat in human history. Ok, he wasn’t very ‘nice’ about. Jesus wasn’t nice all the time either.

Fletcher Christian, his friend and second officer, represents what I’ve called “pity.” He saw the struggle and exhaustion of the crew to keep up with Bligh’s demands; and, the humiliation they experienced from his sharp remarks that bordered on cruel. (Life, like a drill officer, can scourge us, heckle and taunt us, to test our resolve and expose our weaknesses.)

But, Fletcher didn’t like this part of Life, or Captain Bligh’s embodiment of that reality. He wanted Tahiti, no pressure to excel or achieve. He was high born; and falsely imagined he was entitled to comfort as well as respect as a naval officer. But these are mismatched expectations. Naval officers don’t earn respect of their peers being sentimental, entitled, or collapsing under pressure.

Fletcher claimed to pity the men, which is an almost empty word. If he possessed compassion- an expression of caring followed up with corresponding action– his claims may have been credible. He did not regard Overcoming the harsh demands of life as mandatory.

Perhaps Fletcher considered his circumstance more narrowly, as a conscientious objector to an Imperial Britain? But, Bligh’s ambition wasn’t ‘for the Empire’. In fact, Bligh’s ambition was to prove the empire wrong- by defying its problematic oppression of the Everyman (as he was one of them). Bligh was defying the Empire to a degree and going to great lengths to do so.

However one view’s the situation, it was an opportunity to prove one’s self worth. But, that seems irrelevant and even offensive to Christian. So, Fletcher fled.

To my critic, I’d respond, if Life can be a great ocean that may or may not respect me and my feelings; if there are hostiles that may overthrow me in a delusional pursuit of utopia; if nature itself can be unpredictable- beautiful and pleasing one day, and terror-inducing the next, ought not I then, be all that I am capable of being?

This was Captain Bligh’s object clearly. In my Chronicles, I have documented how true each of the above statements about life is, fairly well. Sentiment and feelings do not marshall our best instincts necessarily. But, reality does. Truth does.

Being ‘nice’ to cannibals and to weak and/or vain men like Fletcher, in my opinion, doesn’t do them any good. (Niceness can be like flattery, and nothing good can come of false praise). So, I’d argue that teaching the crew how to endure hardship and injustice and why was what both Bligh and Christian lacked. Not everyone can be effective communicators.

Bligh believed the crew and Fletcher cared as much as he did about the success of their voyage, I believe. That was probably the most cruel disappointment for him. They didn’t seem to care very much at all.

Bligh wasn’t unfeeling. He knew, experienced, felt completely what life required of him. In fact, it is almost an innocent mistake- or reflection of William’s true humanity – that he believed his fellow shipmen shared his desire to succeed. That is why he quickly takes Fletcher into his bosom as a companion to his dreams; a great honor which Christian fails to appreciate. What a cruel betrayal, to be cast to sea!

But, without manifold cruelty of existence, there’d be no captain William Bligh to blog about. His magnificent sailing feat may never be achieved or celebrated. And, we’d all be congratulating ourselves for being ‘nice’ when life demands so much more.

Do I want to be ‘nice’? Not really. Do I want to survive, live up to all Life’s challenges, and excel despite manifold adversity? That is the question.

Nice is an -ism, a fleeting reflection on a tea bag or fortune cookie. Not much help in storms!