Make sure your co-workers don't see ya reading this!

[OrlandoMike]

Oh and get a tissue ready!


http://deacbench.blogspot.com/2008/06/finding-jesus-at-disney-world.html

 

[Disney_Villain]

After reading that article, I looked in my recyclable bin this morning - and I found Jesus!

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

Them religious people can find "jesus" in anything now-a-days!

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

You know? That was truly touching. I particularly liked his observations on the CMs. How often does that happen? I see more of the CMs getting abused by guests, than I see the CMs getting treated nicely or complimented.

Thanks Orlando Mike!

 

[rpmdfw]

Interesting.

What he refers to as "seeing Jesus" is what I refer to as "Disney magic" or "pixie dust". Just goes to show, no matter what labels we put on it, the experience is often the same. We're more alike than we'd like to think; we just have different names for things. Different perspectives.

Joy is joy. Doesn't really matter where I think it comes from, or if the good Deacon sees it as a religious touchstone. When it comes right down to it, that's why we all love Disney. Because it gives us joy, and the chance to share that joy with our loved ones, and with people we've never met.

How magical.

 

[Tiggernut_jadie]

Oh puuurleese?!

You didn't find Jesus sunshine you found Disney!

 

[mykidsintow]

He missed the glow in my baby girls eyes!!! He missed the real amazing part

 

[rosiep]

I happened to really like this article. As someone else said what he calls "Jesus" we call Disney Magic. Tomato, tomatoes.... I love seeing the beauty in things and if someone wants to call that "God, or Jesus" makes no difference to me.

 

[wallyb]

The article is "nice" - kinda sweet - but -
It really brings up this thing that bugs me lately-
Why to people keep evoking Jesus-
At award shows, in spot events, in reality TV shows, and on and on.
I'm not religious in the traditional sense - but I think calling Jesus
into every situation cheapens and trivializes it somehow.

 

[Timon-n-Pumbaa Fan]

Below you will find the lyrics to an old Melissa Etheridge song called "All the Way to Heaven".

I want to find me a car
With only one headlight
A straight six Ford
On a good luck night
I want to roll down the windows
And teach you to fly
I want to give you a thrill
The kind you can't buy

I want to lose all your demons and go
I want to tear off your chains 'cause I know

All the way to heaven is heaven
Caught between the spirit and the dust
All the way to heaven is heaven
Deep inside of us

I want to find me a bar
With a blue light on
Dollar shot specials
A bartender named Dawn
Painting the town
Selling the farm
You can pierce your nose
And I'll tattoo my arm

I want to lose all your demons and go
I want to tear off your chains 'cause I know

All the way to heaven is heaven
Caught between the spirit and the dust
All the way to heaven is heaven
Deep inside of us

I want to find me a carnival
Outside of town
A tilt-a-whirl set up
With a merry-go-round
Cotton candy fingers
And a snow cone mouth
I want to roll you in sawdust
Till they run us both out
All the way to heaven
All the way

I have always thought that too many of us miss the magic or the bits of joy that are in our everyday lives. Certainly, WDW's general atmosphere for the guests is one that to me is filled with joy. I think that it's more like the heaven that I hope to find than any other place on Earth.

I have no problem with the man saying that he saw Jesus at WDW, because I read it more as he saw Jesus at work. He found positive experiences and joy. For a Christian, that would be seeing Jesus. I certainly feel like I see Jesus there, but rarely would I verbalize it that way. This isn't to say that I don't say prayers of thanks for all of the wonderful times that we have during our vacation, because I say several small ones each day....everyday, even outside of WDW.

I'll shut up now, but thanks for sharing that Mike.

 

[minicoopercraig]

See, I read the article, liked it, but had the same question as WallyB (amazingly enough, we see eye to eye on that subject!) Jesus is being involked today so much that it's not what it once meant, I'm by no means a highly religious person, but I think that we use it way to liberally. Now I'm not saying we all need to be prudent poodle-skirt wearing teeny boppers.
Also, I always refer back to Family Guy, when someone thanks Jesus and they flash to Heaven and there's Jesus standing with Krishna (Hindu God I think) who was doing all the work, and Jesus says: "Oh I'll correct them." Krishna says: "Nah, I'm used to it now."
So everytime someone thanks Jesus, I'm thanking Krishna.

 

[TuckandStuiesMom]

For some reason or another this thread reminds me of a Zen Story:

There is a story about Soen Nakagawa encountering a Westerner (Gary Snyder -- maybe??? ) who had heard that expression about killing the Buddha. He visited a temple where Soen Roshi was offering incense to the Buddha and bowing. The visitor asked, “Why are you venerating this image? Why don’t you spit on it?” Soen replied, “If you want to spit on it, you can. I prefer to bow.”​

Isn't the divine always with us?
and isn't it ultimately our decision to see it?
or to not see it?
to be affected by it?
or to not be affected by it?
and if we are not affected by it, are we?

 

[Greg K.]

For some reason or another this thread reminds me of a Zen Story:

There is a story about Soen Nakagawa encountering a Westerner (Gary Snyder -- maybe??? ) who had heard that expression about killing the Buddha. He visited a temple where Soen Roshi was offering incense to the Buddha and bowing. The visitor asked, “Why are you venerating this image? Why don’t you spit on it?” Soen replied, “If you want to spit on it, you can. I prefer to bow.”​

Isn't the divine always with us?
and isn't it ultimately our decision to see it?
or to not see it?
to be affected by it?
or to not be affected by it?
and if we are not affected by it, are we?

I wrote the blogpost at "The Deacon's Bench" that was linked in the OP.

Thank you, TuckandStuiesMom, for such a valuable insight!

 

[TuckandStuiesMom]

Welcome, Greg! Thank you for your kind words & I really enjoyed reading your blog entry! As a person of faith myself (jack mormon ), I can tell you that you will never find a better bunch of kind, open-hearted, open-minded people than those posting here. Please feel free to chime in whenever.

 

[vassalofodin]

I really liked the blog.

It's great when people find God in everyday acts of kindness and life.