the gods aren’t angry (unless they pay $100)

Tonight, my daughter and I went to The Tabernacle in downtown Atlanta. The last time I was in that building I think I was twelve years old and my paternal grandmother took me there to hear Buzz Aldrin, one of the original Apollo astronauts that went to the moon in 1969. Before that my mother walked in and out of this building weekly as it was her neighborhood church where she went to Sunday School as a young girl. At that time it was known as the Baptist Tabernacle of Atlanta.

So, three generations of Atlantans in my family experienced this building as a house of faith. My daughter knows it as a house of culture. When I mentioned I had been there 35 years ago to hear an astronaut, she informed me she had been there last month to hear Queens of the Stone Age. Something tells me it was not a anthropological lecture on feminine monarchy amongst Cave People. You might say the place has changed from being a Baptist church to something else.

We went together to hear Rob Bell, a preacher/pastor from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Rob is all the rage right now and rightfully so. His engaging communication captures the imagination and paints pictures in the air between he and thee. Tonight was the first time I scalped tickets to hear a sermon. The two $15 tickets cost me $100. Rob does not take anything from this cash flow but contributes all net proceeds to the Turame Microfinance Project which provides loans to individuals in developing countries to assist them in starting businesses.

Rob’s topic tonight was the title of this entry…the gods aren’t angry. It was about the evolution of the image of gods and religion in the consciousness of humanity over time and history and how the introduction of the God of relation, covenant and love radically changes the connection between us and He.

If the tour comes your way, buy a ticket early for $15 not a bill like me. God might not be angry, but I am at the guy I bought them from.

~ by phil underwood on 19 November, 2007.