Why doesn't this blog have more posts?

Because blogging is a sin. No, seriously. In my case it is. I have no time to do it at home. I can only find time at work because I have an (obviously undeserved) measure of privacy here. So I take unfair advantage of my employer and, from time to time, write a blog entry. I'd like to say I use my lunch hour, but (here's a surprise) I like eating more than blogging. So.

Now that I'm in the fire, I might as well tell you that I've begun attending a PCUSA church. They're "between pastors" now, but I'm okay with that. I read the last guy's sermons. He was probably a very good social activist, might have been a good speaker and pastoral counselor, but his theology as expressed in his sermon transcripts left something to be desired.

What's wrong with this church? Nothing, probably. I have yet to see any "Sophia worship". They read the Bible and pray. I'm guessing the next pastor they hire will not be a gay woman-- not that I would have any problem with that per se. Honestly, I could happily sit under the preaching of a lesbian who volunteered at Planned Parenthood in her off hours-- I'd feel she had something real and valuable to say about suffering and patience!-- if only she would preach Christ and Him crucified when she stood in the pulpit.

In fact, that is my problem: I have (at least intellectually) a primitive, bloody, high Christology, and a frighteningly firm conviction of my own sinfulness and need of a Redeemer. I am less convinced about the culture war junk. So where might one find a church that preaches a robustly Reformed conception of the person and work of Christ, but takes a more liberal stance on the culture war?

Nowhere. It doesn't exist.

There's a message for me here, I realize. Can I plead that I'm not ready to receive it? I have already tried going to an Orthodox Presbyterian Church, tried (at least partially) submitting myself to the Reformed notion of Christ's Lordship. It nearly led to divorce, or something worse.

So can I tell Jesus "No, not without my family"? I am a sinner, with a sinner's heart, but I think I can say with some honesty that by His grace I'm prepared to take up a cross and follow the Lord. I am not prepared to hand out crosses to the people I love-- to have to explain to my kids that their parents' marriage is in shreds because Mommy and Daddy couldn't come to terms about religious issues-- to give my wife cause to regret marrying me, because she thought she was getting sensitive new-age guy, not a Bible-beating neanderthal.

Sensitive new-age guys seem to be a significant population in the PCUSA. Our sprinkling of lightweight theology and liberal biblical interpretation will no doubt coat us in a crispy, flaky crust when we're all fried up together in hell (HHOS).