One Year On

I'm celebrating a full year of sobriety today.  A solid 366 (leap year) since escaping from the church.  Everyday that passes, I'm happier about the decision.  I read an absurdly whiny blog today from a former friendly acquaintance who moved into a DS slot a year ago. Like 98.7% of the people who do that, he's now crossed the bar, and just suffering terribly from the hideous preachers who don't appreciate the suffering of the cabinet as that current crop of pompous asses screw with the lives of those who are lectured to "live up to their ordination vows" while injustice upon injustice is heaped upon them.  I used to listen to one of those who chastised his district every time we were together about our unwillingness to leave Shelby County. Did I mention that the only appointment he ever served outside the Metro Districts was while he was a student at Lambuth?
Anyway, the gist always seems to be, "If we could just get rid of our workers (preachers), everything would be fine!" You folks "managing" the church, or Bain Capital? They continue down their path of immorality unto death, locally and generally.  They are striving again to attach their financial problems to the retired clergy.  If only we can strip them of their insurance coverage, then the books will automatically balance, the conferences can merge, and the lion shall lie down with the lamb! What is it that turns preachers of the gospel of jesus christ into republicans with a simple appointment onto a district?  Or is it, rather, simply a revelation of the absence of anything christlike in their character that they had managed to keep hidden previously?  (And before anybody tells me that I just don't know how tough it is, remember, I watched my grandfather and my father suffer through terms in that very work, sacrificing sleep and health to avoid abusing people the way that it is routinely done today.)  Hey, geniuses, you're not standing on the shoulders of giants so you can more easily shit on them!  And that's not even to mention the ongoing hypocrisy of this church with its "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors" PR campaign, which means, "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors, as long as you're not gay, don't want to discuss gays, and certainly don't believe in marriage for gays." The DS referenced above said in that same blog entry that resolving what, for many people is an enormous issue of historic injustice, won't fix anything for the church. To put it into terms of your morality: God won't bless anything built on injustice!
The whole "we're following the bible" cover that they now hide behind is simply code for "Tea Party meets here!" And a great deal of that mentality means little more than "We got to get the [black guy] out of the White House."  Good luck with that!
And they can't figure out why young people as a whole don't want any part of them? Really?
I'm truly sorry that things have worked out this way.  The church that my grandfather served is no more.  They stand for nothing progressive, nothing prophetic, and ultimately, nothing faithful.  I would never have believed, 30 years ago, that these forces could have such an impact on my church, much less take it over.  I feel for the handful of good souls still fighting the good fight.  But at this point, it needs to die, to get out of the way.  The predicament of a faithful pastor in this conference of this church reminds me of LBJ's desk plaque: If you ain't the lead dog, the view never changes!
Or, in the church words of the Serious Theologian: Ultimately there are two kinds of people. Those who say to God, "Thy will be done." And those to whom God says, "Thy will be done."  You're getting what you're asking for. Hope you're happy with it!
It was killing me, breaking my heart.  No more!