A Rabbi, A Priest And A Minister Walk Into A Bar...

A rabbi, a priest and a minister walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, " Whats this, some kind of joke." Rim shot, cymbal crash!

Maybe it is some kind of joke, but should it be? The idea that a Christian leader has things, situations and places that he or she is above only serves to make such leadership irrelevant to the society that he or she should be serving. The perception that a bartender would be someone better to talk to about real life issues than a Christian leader is only possible when that leader feels above the people. Christian leadership disconnected from the people is Christian leadership disconnected from God.

Jesus was in so called inappropriate settings and with inappropriate people so often he was called a drunkard and a friend of sinners. In fact you would be hard pressed to find where Jesus spoke a harsh word to any sinner except religious leaders. Jesus got involved in the lives of people in a positive way no matter what they had done or where they were. Its unfortunate but there are very many people who mistakenly feel that if Jesus met them he would never associate with them and he certainly would never do it in a bar.

Throughout history when Christian leadership is more devoted to their religious status within a society than to serving the people through Christ we find the most horrible crimes against people committed in the name of Christ. The seed for the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition where planted with the fertilizer of notions of superiority. If we are honest we will agree that there has always been two churches. One in agreement with the world and living according to the principals of the world, and the other following Jesus through the Bible. Everything from Cain slaying his brother Abel to any present day christian violence and oppression is due to the worldly church. The self sacrifice, charity and unwillingness to see themselves above others is given to us from the Christ following church. There have been times in history where the worldly church has oppressed the Godly church and there have been times when the lines have blurred between them. The important question for all of us is - which church has given us our perception of God and therefore shaped how we live our lives?

If Jesus walked into a bar would the bartender think that it was the start of a joke or would he know that a bar would be one of Jesus's hangouts? Would the people in that bar know that Jesus was not there to look down on them but to hang out and offer them life?

Poet Ntwadumela

P.S. No bartenders were injured during the writing of this piece.

Short Observations on the Nature of Light

He is the King eternal, immortal, invisible.

Light is invisible. We cannot see light. We can only see what light touches and illuminates. The evidence that light is present is always and only the things light touches and illuminates. Outer space between our planet and the sun is full of sunlight but it is dark. We cannot see this light. If we see our planet or a space craft or any object in space then we see the evidence of the light that is always present as the light illuminates the object that we see. Outer space is dark because it is a vacuum. It is a vast emptiness and there is nothing in this vacuum or emptiness for light to touch and illuminate. If light cannot find anything to touch and illuminate then there is darkness. Light will never cease to be light but if there is nothing it can touch then we will live in darkness and not perceive the light that is everywhere.


You are the light of the world.

Pure light contains all colors. These colors are in harmony and are not separate in pure light. Pure light can be fractured into a rainbow. This is the separation and deformity of the nature of pure light. Rainbow light is fractured and is very poor at touching and illuminating. Rainbow light does not reveal the true nature of things because each part of the rainbow is lacking every other part of itself. When a particular part of rainbow light touches something the illumination is tainted by its own color. A particular part of a rainbow colors everything after the nature of its own color therefore it does not reveal the true nature of the thing it touches. This is the difference between unified light and fractured light. Unified light reveals what is true, fractured light shows us only after its own color.


In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Light is necessary for life. If the world had no light every living thing would die and nothing new would be born. Light gives life to every living thing and every living thing receives its life from light. If the world no longer had light every plant then every animal would die. Even animals that live in total darkness and our blind ignoring and living as if there was no light would die because everything that sustains them, everything they depend on, even though they are unaware of it, is sustained by light.


For I am the Lord, I do not change.

Light is not relative. Light does not change according to your perspective or from what place you observe it. Light travels at 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum and is observed at that speed from every perspective. If you travel in a car at 100 miles per hour and you travel next to that car at 75 miles per hour that car you are beside will only appear to pass you at 25 miles per hour. The car is traveling 25 miles per hour faster than you so its relative speed to you as is 25 miles per hour. For light this is not so. If you travel very fast, even approaching the speed of light itself light will still appear to you to be traveling at 299,792’458 meters per second. Time and space will change around you to allow light to appear to you this way. Light does not change; it does not matter from where you observe it.


Light overcomes darkness.

Darkness cannot exist of its own but only in the absence of light. When light touches anything then darkness disappears. Darkness cannot overcome light and darken what light touches. Darkness can only cover something in the absence of light. Darkness cannot be measured. There is no speed of darkness. Darkness does not travel in waves or particles. Darkness does not have mass or energy. Darkness only exists and moves in the absence of something for light to touch. Light and darkness are not equally powerful. They do not compete with one another. Lights mere existence moves the darkness into non existence. Light has no competition. Darkness is only the absence of light.


And the light shines in the darkness but the darkness did not comprehend it.

Light takes every opportunity to have access. Great pains have to be taken to exclude light and cultivate darkness. Light will take every opportunity, move through every crack or seem, to touch and illuminate. Light is also gentle. It will not force its way. If darkness is sought it can always be found. Dark places can be found or created away from the light because light will not force its way but if light is carried into the dark place it will cease to be a dark place. That place will have light. To stay in darkness you must actively seek or create dark places and flee when light is brought to that dark place. It takes decisive action to stay in darkness. Light takes every given opportunity to touch and illuminate. Light constantly seeks to eliminate darkness but light is gentle it will not force its way.


God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

Yes God is light. As we understand the nature of physical light we can begin to understand the nature of God who is spiritual light. God touches and illuminates. God unifies us as the light of the world and God’s heart is broken when we are fractured from one another. God provides life and without God all flesh would die together. God does not change. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God overcomes darkness. Darkness has no power over God. Darkness exists in man because of God’s mercy. God is always seeking to touch and illuminate the human heart. God will use even the smallest opportunity to touch us but God will not force his way.

Poet Ntwadumela