Fort's Cancer Sux!!

The following was given by a friend of mine who offered a guest sermon at a church this past weekend in Dayton. I felt it was worth sharing... Almost over the hump! Happy Wednesday!

Headlines! Headlines.....read all about it!

A rapist in Florida was pretending to be a cop.Also in Florida, a family is shot to death in their own car.Kim Jong II has nukes.Racial Tension is on the rise in the South.The President's approval ratings dip again.Buddies in Iraq killed within days of each other.Elephants are dying out.A Record snow in New York in October.AIDS is ravaging Africa.New Kindergartners smiling as they enter Dayton Schools.

WOW...that is the most important story I've heard in weeks.

There is still HOPE...there really is.Before I begin today with our message, I want to say it's so wonderful tosee everyone here, and to be back at Hope. I still believe in thiscongregation and all it attempts to do.

I was driving to work about three weeks ago when I saw a beat up, old VWBug with a bumper sticker that really resonated with me..."Be more like Christand less like Christians." I sped up to get a look at who was driving.It was a middle aged African American man...looked like a nice guy with aYankee Candle air freshener hanging from his rear view mirror. I smiled.I felt this sudden osmotic sense that I got him...I understood him.

Judgement had befell this man...maybe all of his life people had played the race game with him, that he had probably turned to church to be his protector...and he wasl eft to wonder, why do Christ's followers pick on me...pick on people???Makes nosense really. And I wanted to somehow say, "I understand...and it hurts."

You know, Christians in our country have hijacked that wonderful word. A word that once meant people would know you because of the love you would give to them. now it means a select group of people with a plan and designs for all other people.

I think the perfect analogy of what I mean awaits any visitor who drives down75 to Cincinnati. There is a spectacle there, the largest statue of Jesus in the Midwest, and maybe in the United States. The funny thing is Jesus appears to be drowning in this pool that lay in front of the Solid Rock Church,while the church itself sits proud and postured, filled with cars and dollars.I'm sorry, but I can't imagine that Jesus had any intention of people coming to a humungous complex with buildings for every purpose under the sun, where a fresh batch of judgement awaited all visitors. Where you dumped your last dime to get more air-conditioning and your personals truggle with salvation become a marketing scheme to increase the size of this monolith.

Jesus, with hispained face, drowning in the water.

They have lost the message of Christ. Forgiveness, love and understanding.Those things were never intended to be used as a way to make profits, andChrist himself said "make not my temple a place of business".

Walk into Solid Rock someday and you will see a coffee shop, a souvenir store, and a place to buy our own color specific Bible with your name in Gold Letters. What doest hat have to do with Christ's message? You got me. On the flipside, walk into that place of worship with heavy heart, and mind riddled with fear and guilt andfor a specific price, you can leave being a Born Again, and broke,Christian.

Jesus with an ache in his eyes looks out onto the fields of livestock and farmhouses.If you were watching the television the other day, you may have seen a real showdown about the upcoming elections. Now, I am not going to drift off into politics, because I don't think church and state really are meant to be mixed,but one of the Senators form a southern state, made a statement I couldn'tbelieve. He said, America will only find peace and grace when we elect ourfirst-ever Born Again President.

Have you ever wanted to jump into a television and say "Hello, are you stupid?"We HAD a born again President. He was a model of the Christian life andstill believes that all good can only come through Christ. If you read his book, oreven about him, he says his downfall as a President came from one sector of the American Public. You ready??? Born-Again Hypocritical Christians. His Name...Jimmy Carter. President Carter went as far as to say that the most self-righteous influences in this country are the members of the Christian Right.

This from a man who took every step in his life as a Born-Again,well-meaning Christian. Now, I'm not here to defend his policies, but this man, aging and weak, is still building homes for the poor, vaccinating children from foreign countries and attends church daily. I

f that isn't a model of Christianity,what is? I can't imagine Christ ever condemning a man who is so selfless.Oh and what about Madonna...you know the Material Girl herself. Like heror hate her, she recently adopted a young boy named David from thepoorest country in the world, Malawi, Africa. The country leads th worldin AIDS cases. More than 50% of the children there are orphaned. Theyhave very little food, clean water or clothing.

The childn's father was ecstatic to know that his son was getting out of this "hell" and into areal shot at a good life. Madonna says she will bring the boy back tovisit his home and family as often as she can. And what do you supposethe Christians had to say....check it out online...ShortTalkChristian.com a place to post your blog if you are a born again memeber of the Church of God had a field day with this one.

"How could an immoral Lady like Madonna be allowed to adopt a child anywhere?""Does Madonna realize that she is white and the child is black?""Madonna should be ashamed of herself for adopting an African baby, it's not fair to the child""is the baby Muslim? And is it safe to bring him into Europe if he hasties to Muslims?"and then this...."why doesn't Madonna adopt 10 or 20 children from AFrica, she has the money. One child makes little difference."

I beg to differ my Christian friend...it made a big difference to that one child. I'm sure that Jesus is up there somewhere thinking, alright, somaybe Madonna is a little obnoxious, but at least she's trying to help.

Lastly, I ask God to look at me in a different light than other Christians I saw on TV this summer. They were protesters standing outside funerals of our fallen soldiers in Iraq. They were protesting the fact that the United States tolerates Gays in the military.

None of these soldiers were gay, not that that even has a bearing on the preposterous behavior of these people. Quit usingthe word "Christian" to defend your prejudice and hatred. I'm sorry, but Jesus would never pick up a picket sign and join these people.

I believe this cheapens Jesus and all he stood for in his life.You know, Jesus Christ was always trying to make changes for the better.For the open-minded. For the weary, the lost and the rejected. He was aman with an open heart, a true sense of what could be , and the greatestexample of theword Love.Which brings me back to those kindergartners with smiles on their faces gettingready for school in Dayton.Take a second and think. Think of all thepossibilities the eyes of these children can see. Think of all theopportunities they have to make this place so much better. And think howwe can help them with their future. And, remember...be more likeChrist...and lesslike Christians.-

Josh Stucky

Of course I wouldnt leave you with out some "other" images I found online while looking for that shot of Touchdown Jesus...."Mechanic Jesus"...."Free Weight Jesus" and of course, "Vegas Jesus"....sad. For those of you out of towners, I pass this tacky monstrosity everytime I drive to Dayton & often wonder how many mouths that statue could have fed with the money spent on it..ugh. Without further ado...