To fry or not to fry

I went to the Shelby County Mid-south fair tonight. It was fun, I don’t do the ride thing much, not that I don’t like them but I mainly go for the food, and it is nice to be amongst the people when I get a chance to leave my ivory tower.

I love fairs, the food is always so great, and it is so difficult to make a decision, especially in Memphis Tennessee. Memphis has wonderful food, and the stuff I like the most isn’t the stuff that one eats if they are looking into living a long time. There were Brats, Italian Sausage, Corndogs, Ribs, Shoulder, Chicken on sticks, and I had a Gyro. They it was all right, the problem was that the cucumber sauce had too much sour cream in it. But the greatest thing about Memphis (of course there are probably other places too) is the propensity to deep-frying anything that tastes good. A few years ago they started deep frying Twinkies, then they figured, “hmm it worked with the Twinkies, lets do other things.” Tonight I chose (because more than one deep fried treat is like eating death in pancake batter) a deep friend Snicker bar. WOW, it was sort of weird when I started eating it, but by the time I was on my last bite, it had become indescribable.

As for the rest of Memphis and their food, there is always Topp’s Barbeque, Exlines Pizza, Barbeque shop, Corky’s, Huey’s, Memphis style hot wings, Memphis Pizza Café. Then there are all the places on Beale, on any weekend there is a blues concert on the corner. I have grown to really like Memphis the few years I have been here. There is a wonderfully eclectic nature to it. The best places don’t really exist anywhere else, and if they have turned into a chain, the best is always the first place it started. Like the Corky’s in East Memphis and the Huey’s in Midtown. Now to add to the list, Fried desserts at the fair.

Does God forgiive sins?

As a Christian forgiveness is a large part of my theology, from the beginning I understand that I live in a fallen world with a lot of situations that could work better. I accept that often I will sin and sometimes I will really sin. Some people say that there is no one sin that is greater than others, I disagree but that is ok those people are still fine and dandy. Now, often I don’t think the sins we think are the biggies God would call the biggies. For a lot of people, me included forgiveness is difficult. Growing up with a bootstrap mentality, I was raised to take care of myself to be self-sufficient. As a Christian I am not self-sufficient, the BEST I can do still requires the sacrificing of Jesus the Christ. I am fine and dandy with this for everyone else, no one is perfect, everyone will make mistakes, don’t be so hard on yourself, its progress not perfection, and the true glorification will be in heaven but, when it comes to me… there is no excuse. Forgiveness is a chore, now I know that there are some people out there who say, “I don’t have a hard time accepting that I am forgiven I love it, then I don’t have to worry about anything.” Well if a statement like that exists in your theology, this post is not for you. I do not begrudge you and in truth I someday hope to be like you but for right now, just smile and nod while you read.

I know many and have been one who sits in worship on Sunday morning, this Sunday morning in fact overburdened by my sin, waiting for a sign from God that tells me I am forgiven so that I can once again experience the joy of salvation, in that equating forgiveness and warm fuzzies. If I am not experiencing the warm fuzzyness of God then I must still be sitting unforgiven for my iniquities. I really can’t deal with God again until my guilt is lifted. Well, a little guilt is never a bad thing. There are two kinds, Paul tells us in the second correspondence to the Corinthians, of guilt that is. There is a godly guilt and a human guilt. One helps us to build character the other is the tails side of the coin flip of pride. Pride is then twofold, one the cocky son of a “what cha ma call
it” the other is the manure that the world revolves around. My life sucks so bad, you need to hear about it, over and over and over, I have no skillz, girls won’t like me if I’m myself, these things are all the second form of pride. It is that side of pride and the people that suffer from it that have a hard time accepting forgiveness, needing a sign, because in truth everything they have ever done is so someone will give them some attention whether it is positive or negative.

We then have a hard time without hearing that we are loved or forgiven believing it because we need to be told constantly, otherwise it feels like rejection, which in this belief is obviously because of the sin we commit.

But the problem is God doesn’t like to be made to serve the negative system. With the acceptance of Jesus Christ into our lives through our baptism, God’s wrath against us is appeased, and we are washed and made, as the song says it, white as snow. There is no work we can do there is nothing we can say to feel forgiven, to feel saved, there is faith that says we are saved.

Brother Lawrence was often quoted on forgiveness, “ When he sinned he confessed it to God with these words, ‘I can do nothing better without you. Please keep me from falling and correct the mistakes I make.’ After that he did not feel guilty about the sin (practice of the presence 15).”

“Brother Lawrence was aware of his sins and not at all surprised by them. ‘That is my nature,’ he would say, ‘The only thing I know how to do.’ He simply confessed his sins to God without pleading with him or making excuses. After this he was able to resume his regular activity of love and adoration. If brother Lawrence didn’t sin, he simply thanked God for it because only God’s grace could keep him from sinning (practice of the presence 16-17).”

Brother Lawrence must have been a wonderfully faithful individual because I don’t feel good unless I have pled, but then it is based off of my works, if my pleading is good enough God might forgive me.

Knowing forgiveness must be an old problem because it appears in liturgies, I was reading in the Book of Common Prayer:
“The Almighty and merciful Lord grant you Absolution and Remission of all your sins, true repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit. Amen. (Book of Common prayer, 1945, 24)

Absolution is important to a lot of people, I think God gives us the ability to be ministers of absolution, No, I don’t mean we forgive sins, but with faith we can declare sins forgiven. Then there is the other aspect of repentance, turning the other direction, walking a different way, a living amends… But I have already kept you long enough.