Job and Jesus were brothers

I've been, as you might imagine, understanding Job a lot better these days. And I'm wondering how he managed to go back to church, or whatever it was called back in the day. I mean, if it was all just go to the altar, I can still do that, but I'm just not sure about dealing with the people.

I've lost a lot of patience with people in authority - and truth to tell, I didn't have a whole lot to begin with. And while that it be an invitation to work on that, I am working on it. I'm not feeding the pettiness of most authority anymore.

I totally get why the only place Jesus lost his shit was at church. I appreciate even more the irony that the church is what protects the message, sometimes despite it's best efforts. But I'm still not feeling the urge to get back into the politics that is church. I can't get beyond the notion that if it's not actively striving to be better than the secular world, I can actually do more for God, to alleviate suffering, and enact justice outside the building, and even outside the community, than I can in it. And more importantly, I can have more integrity in my relationship with the Almighty. I know Episcopalians aren't fond of the image, but the church isn't going to be writing me a letter of recommendation for St. Peter - I'm on my own with that.

The most humbling thing anyone ever said to me was that I was Jesus walking. And every day, since the day I was told that, I have tried to live into it. Interestingly, I find that Jesus is a lot less gentle than we give him credit for. I find in my actual experience that the bible is merely a tight outline of life lived, and it often leaves off the parts I really need. Of course, then I reread something like Job and go, oh yeah, here it is, I just didn't have the experience to understand it before.