I have decided to start something a little different. Go figure. I am going to start writing a story. I will not give you any clues as to why or what the deeper meaning is about. I want you, if you dare, to search through the lines to find the greater significance. Please feel free to discuss, I am hoping it will create some conversation.
All the stories will come from the lives of the members at.......
Grace Bible Believing Holy Ghost Fellowship of the Holy Saints Church.
“Brother Uzeless and His Worthless Rants”
For Brother Uzeless the day began as it normally did. The sun, in his strong opinion, would rise slowly and with no real purpose. It merely was an interference with the single greatest invention of God, sleep. As the sun peeked through the tattered blinds in his house, Brother Uzeless began to ponder all the things that he had to accomplish before the sun set. His main goal for this day was to have a private meeting with the Pastor at Grace Bible Believing Holy Ghost Fellowship of the Holy Saints Church. He had been meaning to talk with him for a while. There were just too many things that, in his strong opinion, were not being handled in a, “Biblical,” manner.
One of the top things on his very long list was the misuse of church’s finances. He had seen the church waste so much money on things such as, the poor, hungry and the homeless. He figured they were all there because of some mistake they made in the past and should have to pay for their mistakes. He tried to convince people of the problem at the last deacons meeting but it didn’t work. The deacons reminded Brother Uzeless that it was the church’s highest calling to take care of such people and that when the church took care of them, they would be fulfilling the will of God. Needless to say, Brother Uzeless and the deacons didn’t see, “Eye to Eye”.
Another problem he had was the morning worship. He longed for the old days when the church would just sit in silence. He had a hard time getting into all this, “Hypity Hoppy,” music. In his strong opinion, there was not need to sing or make noise at all. One could easily worship God without making any form of an utterance. Besides, what about those people who can’t sing? He often thought to himself, “Is it really worship if a dieing animal screaming in pain sounds better?”
Uzeless also had a problem with all the, “Standin and sittin,” done on Sunday morning in the church. His eyes became streaked with red lines every time he saw another one of those, “CrazyMatics,” as he called them, getting too excited about a song. He hated to see them when they would start raising their hands because soon enough they all would stand up and began dancing. It could have been the actual dancing that bothered him or the fact that after three hip replacements, knee surgery and a triple bypass, excitement for him needed some control. In his strong opinion, “The church ended up looking like an insane asylum during happy hour”. That obviously, could not be, “Biblical”.
Soon time crept by. Uzeless began his normal morning routine. He methodically would put one foot at a time in both of his slippers. Once the feet were properly in place, he stretched out his long arms and made a loud growl. As Uzeless got out of the bed it made the same, “Pop! Ping! Pop! Ping!” noise that it had for many years. Uzeless was used to it and didn’t even notice. The rest of the morning's rituals were a well-oiled machine, smooth and precise.
The time finally approached to leave. As he got in his truck he patted his right side shirt pocket to make sure he had his list. It was safe and secure, stuck between a pack of Wrigley’s Spearmint gum and a pair of old reading glasses that were only pulled out when no one was around. A smile slithered across his face. There were so many things that Uzeless wanted to talk to the Pastor about that he blocked off a whole afternoon. A few weeks back he had told the Pastor
“It may take awhile, I got a lot on my chest”.
To which the Pastor had replied, “Well, I hope I can help with the burden”.
His 1976 Ford truck rumbled forward as Brother Uzeless set out for his meeting. Pulling away he thought to himself, in his strong opinion, “The poor man has no idea what’s coming”.
19 comments:
I think i know this guy....
Nice ! I think I know him too! Small World
In my strong opinion, I think this is funny.
And, there is one thing Uzelss and I agree on. Sleep is one of God's greatest creations, you know, besides the Earth, and air, and people, and Jesus, and some other important things.
Wow!! In my little over 10 years of being a pastor's kid, I've seen Uzelss come in and out of the churches my dad has pastored several times. For me, reading this part of your story brought back a flood of not only memories but emotions as well. Your story pulled me in, as all your literaryworks do :), held my attention, and made me want more. I can't wait to find out how it turns out!
As for Uzelss....the only thing he has together is the fact that sleep is good. lol
I think Brother Uzeless and I have something in common. Not having bad things to say about the church, but we both ponder on everything ALL the time. If it's not my Test for Mr. Loftice, it's crosswalk on Wednesday night. Last night Brittany Sowell, Emily, and I got some people together to paint our faces purple and gold for the basketball game against the Carthage Bulldogs. Well, Afterschool I called Brittany, and she said she was running low on paint. So I went to Wal-mart, hoping they would have paint, but they didn't. I tend to panic when things don't go my way, because I don't like things to go wrong. So Faith and I drove to Fred's..looked at Burke's, Tractor Supply, and CVS...finding no paint. I was soo frustrated. I called Brittany, telling her there was no Face paint anywhere, and she told me to chill and we can make do the paint that she had. But knowing there was little paint made me feel bad. And I was mad at myself for making such a big deal about Stinkin' Face Paint. And then I picked Courtney up, and we went to my house until we had to go back to the school. And it was getting close for us to be there, so we drove to the school, and I was at an intersection by my house. And the light was green and I was turning left..and when I pulled out in the middle of the road to wait on some cars to go by, the light turned yellow. And there was a car in front of me and I thought they had their right blinker on, so I decided to turn left, because they were going the same direction as me, and I really needed to get to the school. So I turned left, seeing the Car I thought was turning come straight towards my car.. I swerved my steering wheel right, avoiding the car by about 1 foot. I was Scared to death. But I didn't wreck. But for Bro. Uzeless..I see in the future him having a wreck if he doesn't get things straight. You see, if I didn't have my mind focused on not being late for a game, and just took the time to think, then I wouldn't be in the situation I was in. And me thinking the car had their blinker on...I think our mind plays games with us...I wanted the blinker to be on. Bro. Uzeless is stuck in his ways. He wants his blinker to be on. He wants things his way. But it shouldn't be our way.
This is what the story reminded me of... myself.
peWow Josh, this is really good, it is so good that you might need to start going by J.R. Broughton like all of the good authors do.
Anyways the story reminded me of most of a lot of people young and old, who only want to say what is wrong with the church. But the one this Uzeless had that was different from everyone else, that I have seen, is that he is willing to go and talk about what he thinks is wrong, while most people just talk to their friends about their problems, because they are to scared to talk to the authorities.
i have to agree with blaire seeing the Pk's side of everything in the church brings back memories that i wish i never had. no matter what church or what twon you live in there is always going to be someone like Uzelss. and i have to agree with jo too this is funny but it's also sad that belivers in christ can't get along, this guy is just set in his ways and can't get out of them.
AND YES SLEEP IS GOOD!!!!
I thank you, but my question for all of you is this......do you see any of this brother in yourself?
How about this question, How do you and I deal with brother Uzeless?
Honestly.... i really don't see much of myself in Brother Uzelss...as far as in the church setting, but in other things i must be honest and confess that i do have a tendency to be like that sometimes. i get used to things being one way (like at my school) and when they're changed, i tend to get upset. I'm the type of person that, quite frankly, has a difficult time adjusting to change (unless it's the kind of change that i've been pushing for too). It's something that has, in a way, held me back in life and has prevented me from fully enjoying the things that i could. It's something that i'm truly trying my best to get better with- just learning to let stuff go has really helped.
How do we deal with Bro. Uzeless?? The "we" in the question is referring to people all throughout the church, young and old...right? Mostly everyone in the church has a complaint of some sort, whether it's the music, the carpet, sound system, or what someone is wearing. What do we do with people who complain in the church? Who makes up the solutions to complaints? If everyone has a complaint, who solves the problem, and what makes this person have authority over the church? Or does the church body make decisions? What exactly do we believe??
Interesting thoughts, what I am asking is this....you personally, how would you deal with the situation at hand.....what would be a positive response to him?
i think i would just take time to listen to him- you know, give him a chance to share his feelings and the thoughts behind why he thinks what he does. Though i would make it clear that i would take into consideration what he's saying, i'd let him know that i wouldn't start making all these changes to the church just because he, as one person, thinks they need to be made. You're dealing with a bunch of people here, and it's nearly impossible to have the church set up exactly how each individual would like (as far as music, programs, etc.). It's impossible to be pleasing everyone there, but if they like the church enough and feel like they're getting what they need from it, they're probably going to learn to overlook the little things...like the color of the carpet and the paint on the walls....and sometimes even bigger things...like the way others are worshiping around them. If they can absolutely not learn to look past of few of the trivial things like that, that don't deal with extremely important things like the doctrine the church is teaching, then maybe it's time for them to start looking for another church. If the pastor is constantly changing everything about himself and the church (this excludes things that come up that really might need to be changed, not just the petty disapproval of the texture of the carpet) then he's going to find himself constantly going in circles trying to change everything just to please one individual. And when he's finished running in those circles...he's going to find that nothing was really gained.
Now, don't misunderstand me and think that i'm saying that there isn't stuff that comes up that needs to be changed- yes, there comes a time when things DO need to be changed...like the color of paint on the walls and the carpet in the sanctuary, but what i'm saying is that we shouldn't let those little things like that get us turned against the Pastor and the others in the church.
Blaire, I would have to agree with you. I think if they can't look past the small things, they should go to a different church and see if that church is for them. And you're also right about everyone is not going to be happy, someone is always going to be upset at something.
Me personally, if someone had a problem with the church, and they talked to me about it, I would probably tell them to talk to someone else about it, and I would ignore what they said. That's what I would do. I don't think that's a bad thing to do, I just don't know what I could do to help them.
I think we all want things to go our way, whether we acknowledge it or not. Whether it's church, school, friends: we want things our way or no way. Because, we think we're always right. I'm not exception.
The difference between some and Uzeless, is some of us see when we are wrong, and can accept that. We know when to step down and stop arguing and perusing. Others just don't know when to stop and put an end to what will never happen for them.
The only way to deal with a problem like that, is to listen to the person who bent on everything being just the way they want it to be. Listen with all your heart, and encourage them to go out and find that church, or talk to that teacher, or make that change that would best suit them. In Uzeless's case, if the church he is going to isn't working out for him because of certain aspects of it, he needs to find a new church, or he needs to learn to deal with the problems at hand. Maybe discuss with him how to meet in the middle. Or be honest with the old man: not everything goes our way all the time.
You know..maybe brother Uzeless just wants to be in control of everything. He cant admit that God is in control.
This is a problem for me too. It's hard to believe, for me, that God controls everything, that God is a Sovereign God. That God knew what was going to happen before I was born..That just amazes me. I mean, growing up we're taught that God knows everything, and I guess after hearing it for so long, we forget how awesome it is.
Does anyone else find it amazing that God is a Sovereign God??
So, I just looked at the blog today for the first time in a while and I've read some really cool comments, and I'm glad to see discussion. It's things like this that allow people to grow and explore God. Church on the internet, oh yeah! But, in reality, I see some of Brother Uzeless in all of us. We all have that one thing about each of our churches that we don't particularly see the point of or don't really fully agree with. On a personal level I wish that sometimes Bro. Hale would just lay the smack down on our faces every once in a while. Nothing against Bro. Hale, he's a God fearing man and serves Him to the fullest of the calling he has been given. Also, I don't agree with the whole hymnals are more spiritual than contempory music. When the hymns that the old people get their jollys off to were written they would have been considered contemporary. Contemporary is a relative word, that God happens to live outside of. God doesn't care what kind of praise we sing to Him, praise is praise, plain and simple. Also, just a side note, God created this whole time thing, it doesn't effect Him at all.
Last question before I post the next exciting saga in the church. If we all have a little of Bro. Uzeless in us, what should we all watch out for in our own lives and how should that affect how we view other people?
maybe think about what we say before we say them. Don't view others as "bad" people, listen, be understanding, and then give your opinion. But try not to be aggressive. Put yourselves in their shoes. I don't know where I'm going with this. I'm rambling. And I don't even know if I answered the question. But yeah...I'm going to go now. bye
Lauren, you have a good point. The fact that we try to put ourselves on a "good" and "bad" scale is where we mess up. Regardless, I think Josh's question is pointing more torwards the fact that we all do indeed have some of Bro. Uzeless in us. And even if we don't,(a slim few) Bro Uzeless would be our brother in Christ, and we should consider why it is that he feels that way. Maybe it's because he has never been taught by these "feel good" pastors that seem to plague the world to read God's Word. Maybe it would be our fault that he feels the way he does about the worship because no one has ever told him why they can connect to God in that form of worship. (But to be honest, it doesn't matter to me what form of worship it is, if we're singing to honor my Father in Heaven, then I'm in.) Prehaps there hasn't been a time set aside to address this issue in a Sunday morning sermon. There's tons of places in the bible that talk about worship, i.e. 2 Sam 6:14 where it talks about David dancing in a linen ephod, which was a priestly type garment. Also, we should consider the fact that we're all imperfect and all fall short and none of us deserve heaven, it is only by the Grace and Love of God that He sent His only Son to save us, by becoming sin on the Cross. Normally when someone has a problem we tend to push them off and ignore them because we refuse to understand their situation. If that's the case, then aren't we just adding fuel to the fire? When someone is ignored the natural response is to do something more blatant and something that attracts more attention to them. So by ignoring or shoving someone to the side, aren't we aiding the problem grow?
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