Witt's End

  It’s Easter. I’m seeing so many He is Risen posts. Too many to count. So I thought I’d add my own. Because what does that mean in practice for me? This isn’t a post to slam Easter Egg hunts, or Bunny Rolls, or jelly beans and all of the modern festivities that accompany the holiday. In fact it might be the opposite. No this is me digging deep to see inside of me what does not only Easter but the entire Holy Week mean to me. And what am I going to do about it.  I’m not here to debate the historicity of scripture, or of Christ himself. I have faith that a Savior experienced the things said, and I have faith that it was purposely done for us. I’ve been struck by his actions directly before and directly after he performed the Atonement this week. Really struck. His last acts before the Atonement were to wash the feet of his Apostles and give them the sacrament. To serve them. His last mortal miracle was performed directly after when he healed the ear of the man Peter struck. A man sent t

 I’ve said before I love music. I love playing it and I love listening to it. I’m at the point where Im back at it. And I want to right about it. 

The lack of acceptance and often hostility I’ve felt in so many circles is currently growing.  This is a stream of consciousness filled with frustration and pain. Read accordingly. Please.—- Have you ever spent time in a place where people hate an inherent part of you? Repeatedly? I’m not talking a belief you hold. I’m talking about something inherent. Intrinsic to you. Now I’m a privileged white guy, so my experience doesn’t involve around race. And usually doesn’t involve my gender.  Mine involves something you can’t see. Something that  ——— I'm just going to say it. I'm flabbergasted at times by how much so many people fear and/or hate queer people. I'm using the catch all term for a reason. It's not a specific fear or anger. It's diffused. It's more inherent. It's frightening to me.  Different cultural groups are grappling with the history and the present as they work through this period of history.  I'm struggling to give the grace to others on this

I hate how we subconsciously or even consciously rate sins. What’s the worst? I think most of us would say murder. That feels pretty obvious to me. Another common one would be sexual abuse and assault, especially to minors. I can get behind that.  Christ said the greatest sin was to deny the Holy Spirit ( Mark 3:28-29 and plenty of others), to blaspheme him.  The gap between murder and denial of the Holy Spirit may seem off-putting to many. Especially those who do not recognize or identify with the divinity of Jesus Christ. It may even seem off from the other teachings they know of him. And they would be perfectly sound of logic and reason to be troubled by this.  I'm looking at this differently. If the worst sin is to deny the Holy Spirit that brings us to a redemptive Savior, then why do we spend so much time fighting against the ability to change (repentance) and establishing a hierarchy and classification of sin. Especially when Christ gave us a lot of positive tasks to do.  I