Sick Sick Sick

Some of you know that I’ve been under the weather since late Sunday.  I’m back in the office today, not to spread my germs, but to work.  It occurred to me yesterday during one of many ten-minute naps afforded me by my wife and daughter, that for far too many of us, taking a day to recoup is not an option.  For far too many of us, slowing down is not an option.  For far too many of us, our employer would not tolerate us being sick and being un-Americanly unproductive.  So what we get are colds that last two weeks, and bugs that last a month, making their way around the house to the school to the store to the hockey rink to the workplace to the church. 

This is just plain depressing.  When will we say enough?

Finally, only because it’s staring me down from my desk, is the back cover of the most recent Christian Century.  “Saving Jesus” it reads, in ransom-note font.  Living the Questions, the adult ed curriculum best known for being an answer to Alpha, asks if you’ve ever felt that Jesus has been kidnapped by the religious right.  Sure, I have.  But the answer is not to kidnap him back to the religious left.  Another one of their events was a cross-country tour called the Asphalt Gospel.  Here’s a quote: “It tells the story of six ordinary people determined to spread a message of compassion and inclusion in the midst of the intolerance of the Christian Right. “  Hmmm.  What would I think if I saw a DVD put out by Alpha saying that it was spreading a gospel of truth and authority in the midst of the liberal lawlessness of the Christian left?  I’d feel pretty put out.