"There is forgiveness with You that You may be feared."

Meditation for Christians during this time in church history:

Psalm 130.

Between heaven and earth...a cross.

Between heaven and earth there's a divide

A painful struggle between darkness and the light

In this interim

(As we wait for You.)

Between heaven and earth, here we are still

And those things that we hate we still can do

In this interim

(As we wait on You.)

We are found in this world;

We are not of this world,

We are all Yours alone

And yet here we remain.

Between heaven and earth 

We see You there

All alone and rejected by men and God

Between heaven and earth

Your arms outstretched

On the cross

Between heaven and earth

We see You there

Where wooden beams cross, Life out-poured

Where God's heaven, our earth connect in You

On the cross. 

Between heaven and earth we suffer on

Through the brokenness on our way to home

In this interim

(As we wait for You)

Between heaven and earth there is a link-

You, God, are both bridge and only Way

In this interim

(As we wait on You)

We are found in this world;

We are not of this world,

We are all Yours alone

And yet here we remain.

Between heaven and earth 

We see You there

All alone and rejected by men and God

Between heaven and earth

Your arms outstretched

On the cross

Between heaven and earth

We see You there

Where wooden beams cross, Life out-poured

Where God's heaven, our earth connect in You

On the cross. 

Between heaven and earth we find our lives

As we walk with You through the mess and lies

In this interim

(As we wait for You)

One day heaven and earth will be made new

Yet Your kingdom is right here and You are true

In this interim

(As we wait on You)

We are found in this world;

We are not of this world,

We are all Yours alone

And yet here we remain.

Between heaven and earth 

We see You there

All alone and rejected by men and God

Between heaven and earth

Your arms outstretched

On the cross

Between heaven and earth

We see You there

Where wooden beams cross, Life out-poured

Where God's heaven, our earth connect in You

On the cross. 

(x 2)

Rough (unauthorized) translation by yours truly, words originally in German, by Albert Frey, music by the same.

On God’s church

I read another of those long-winded “I voted for a president, not a pastor” excuses today and was compelled to reply. The whole explanation basically boiled down to they trusted Trump as a business-man to provide jobs/business. It boiled down ultimately to a love of money not country. So as I say, I was compelled, as a follower of the Way, a Christian-a Little Christ- to respond.  This is officially now my only response to evangelicals who continue to defend their support for Trump:

You are going to go down in history as some of the biggest traitors to America, let alone the faith. Hope those jobs were good. You wouldn’t understand greatness if it came down from heaven as a baby in a manger.

Evangelicalism stateside is vomitous in its lack of holiness and depraved attempts at power and control rather than freeing people. My God has not changed, and I continue to follow Christ.  I know several folks like me, and we encourage each other.  I am glad that God is exposing the depths of depravity and money-changing in the thing evangelicals call church in the USA, and I have hope that God will bring godly people out of this mess. This evangelicalism is Sodom. Best not to look back.  God is in the business of something fresh and new.  We are going to be ok.

For the journey:

Updated Oct 2020: 

Out of Egypt

If my perspective isn't welcome, why should I stay?
If it's your way or the highway, why bother to say-
That you don't care that you tore out my heart
You couldn't care less that you broke me apart.
Your systems are worthless
Your religion mundane
I can't love your jesus
I've searched for a sign
To show me he's good-
But your gods are vile
You spit and you spew out
 the nastiest of bile
Towards people I've known as personal friends
Towards Muslims and gays and the misfits - to what ends?
You hate and reject,
You pushed me outside
You mock and you discard,
And I'm the one unkind?
You are nothing like Jesus
You hate ones our God so loved

You add to the pain
Of weak and the weary, the homeless, the cold.
Still I've found your pews are the hardest of all.
They just are not worth it,
So I'll sleep in a stall
The floor is my cushion, my ceiling the sky
My greeters some outcasts-  they'll be mocked for their zeal
Yet all that I wanted was to come down and heal.
Your hearts are so damn hard-
You listen to lies-
You're more outraged I said "damn" than that you call evil right.
Yeah-the metaphor's not refined
(no more is the rhyme)-
I may not be Jesus; I am exiled like He was-

A missionary kid, a foreigner, an outcast for love.
My God never changed, but you shut me out-
You cared more for winning; you wallowed in doubt
That our God is holy and you reap what you sow
You shut out the lowly,
And just so you know:
The very ministry you said you support
You've undermined and ridiculed
With your unrepentant vote.
You've told your children, your grandchildren too

That all that matters is fearing and abusing those unlike you.
I held out my hands to you- I know the ones you fear-
They are my friends-they're ordinary- some had less chances here-
To hear of a Savior-to trust in a Friend
Than you had on a Sunday, in a day in a month, in a life...
Yet somehow they are lovely, rejecting of strife...
But
You shut down your heart to me-and absolutely towards them
You wouldn't shed a single tear.




You've squandered abundant blessings- you've mocked what you don't understand.
So now like Wisdom I mock - I revile and despise:
See- your faith is worthless; these divisions deserved-
You watched while they told me,
To go back to my home - my parents' "mission field"
You jeered in silence as I endured abuse
There's no place for me here
Because I refuse to give in to your fear
I warned you, you countered, "But Hillary," "just politics," and despised,
And so I reject you,
Fools in your lies.
This year, I hope for better, with deep friendships forged
From seeing some real love,
and what can be abhorred.
It's sad that this evangelicalism can never be home
But you see-
I see now- you

In Budapest, 2006

never really wanted me
You prefer your comfort
I rock the boat too much
Prophets unwelcome
You slander and smear
As gossips, narcissists, and the angry
And so
In all that winning- because of fear-
You've lost generations
To your fake smiles and lies.
You have no idea what is greatness
You are foul-smelling and corrupt
And to be honest
It's no longer with sadness, but with joy set before
That I'm forgetting what's behind me
In pursuit of the Prize.

Melody Kay Young (December 2017)

Images not otherwise captioned indicating they are my own were all found online, precise sourcing unknown.

character counts

Trump supporters are not welcome near my children or in our home.  

Trump supporters are and have always been supporting an abuser who enables abusers.

Melody Kay Young

Read: Transcript: Widow of fallen soldier speaks 

Sen. Jeff Flake won't seek re-election -- FULL SPEECH -- (C-SPAN) 

"acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound"  

Character cannot be discerned among the 81%.  Reformation needed.  #EmptyThePews

The Cognitive Dissonance of American Evangelicals: What is Greatness?

Greetings and love from San Antonio- just logging in to share my playlist on YouTube about the state of the 81% American Evangelical church.  With all the scandals and betrayals lately, I'm not sure we even worship the same God.  There are attitudes among evangelical Christians that divide families and destroy any hope of unity in shared humanity in local communities.  This division is not of the God of love.  I don't believe we can get anywhere in addressing church abuse, if we refuse to address the poor theology of conservative Christian subcultures.  They act like a dysfunctional family and refuse to talk about it.  

Which means we need to talk.

Playlist:

The Cognitive Dissonance of American Evangelicals

new #ATCK book on #evangelicalbetrayal

I am starting to write again on the side of regular activities, as I seem to have a lot to say on Twitter and Facebook, and putting it all in one place makes far more sense.  Playing around with some titles and ideas, and no idea how long it'll take.  Going back to work in August, and hope to continue my masters next summer, so we will see.  But got a few lines down today, and some things pent up are coming together.  We will see where it all leads.  Very grateful for our freedoms and the privilege of blogging and self-publishing.  

Here's what I said on my personal Facebook about things today:

Going to write that book. The root of the problem in American evangelicalism is minimization of serious abuses, and compromise with evil, for power and control. This is why, in my opinion, some people with good intentions against abuse are not going to stop it. Trump is a spiritual symptom.
If you missed my first book, check it out on Amazon: Fragments and Faith: An Adult Third Culture Kid Experience in Evangelicalism.  #ATCK #amwriting #evangelicalbetrayal #prayforUS

God bless and keep us all with hope for the future.