I’ve become progressively more disgusted with religion.
I might write a book about that!
The sermons of late have cast aspersions on other faith traditions, and even on other denominations within our own faith. That's personally rather irritating, since our son-in-law, for example, is Asian and of the Buddhist persuasion. This does not square with our Presbyterian philosophy of tolerance and inclusiveness, and I find it unnecessary and distasteful. There are lots of other things one can pick on. Ironically, he's one of the "members of the military" whom the congregation has been dutifully praying for every Sunday since the beginning of the Bush wars. I suppose we should make his faith orientation known so we could stop wasting our prayers on him.
This week it was the Pope. Last week it was non-Christians, and even the Dalai Lama. I don't suppose anyone's going to get their back up over digs at Benedict; he has never come across as a person in need of one's loyalty and support. He looks mean-spirited, and if I remember correctly, he was formerly John Paul's "enforcer." But the Dalai Lama is such a nice man; relaxed and smiling all the time and saying nice things about everyone and everything. I'm suspicious of the motives of any man who would bad-mouth the Dalai Lama. Here again, there are a lot of worse people one might more appropriately pick on, indeed many of whom profess to be right-thinking fundamentalists and evangelicals. For starters, we could visit newamericancentury.org and jot down several names, then whitehouse.gov for a few more. Now that TALON has been shut down, I daresay many of these are certifiable "war criminals," responsible for the needless deaths and disablement of thousands of our own military people, and hundreds of thousands on the other side. But that's a rant I'll leave to others.
Were it not for the fact that we still have a minor living at home, I'm not sure we'd bother dragging ourselves out of bed on Sunday mornings to make the 9 o'clock "traditional" service and drop our $20 check into the plate. The services are usually uninspiring, and sometimes even aggravating. Probably about twenty years ago, an old preacher, addressing our congregation on the occasion of our then newly-hired minister's installation, mentioned that during his retirement he'd visited numerous churches, and found them all mediocre at best. His challenge was something like, "At this moment, ladies and gentlemen, you have an opportunity to rise above mediocrity." That was prophetic in a rather pathetic way; we've been increasingly mediocre ever since.
Nevertheless, there are still some useful opportunities for our minor child; camping opportunities, summer bus trips, the Wednesday evening youth activity, and all that. And then, of course, there is always the possibility of a death in the family, or a marriage. A church affiliation comes in handy at times like those. I suppose I should also think about Sunday morning coffee times after the service; that's usually pleasant. Sometimes you meet someone new and interesting, while other times bring a hug or a nice conversation with an old acquaintance.
Our latest newly hired leader is seemingly into the evangelic movement. Our other Sunday morning service is now billed as the "contemporary service." We used to call it simply "the second service". No we traditionalist duplicitously call it "the Hootenanny." During that affair, the old organ pipes are silenced, being replaced with guitars, tambourines, bongos, and unmemorable songs, and performed by sloppily-dressed people with sandals or bare feet. The lyrics are projected on a large screen, leaving heads and hands free to be thrust heavenward. I've never quite figured out what that's all about; perhaps a reaching out for the Lord? We use to think of that sort of thing as ostentatious. But who knows? Maybe the Lord likes hootenannies and writhing worshipers better than Bach and thoughtful reverence in His presence.
Most of us "traditionalists" are among the older members of the congregation. Newer members and staff people have neither knowledge of, nor much appreciation for, the sacrifices and contributions people in the "traditional service" have made over the years. At best, we're mostly seen as irrelevant, I think; at worst, as in the way. Perhaps, like many other PCUSA congregations, we're headed towards the EPC.
Anyway, I write about things that move me to the page, and at the moment I'm thinking about doing a book called something like "A Practical Faith for the Third Millennium." It would be a simple, common sense approach to -- Christianity, I suppose, since that's the tradition I was brought up in. Christianity, when one dispenses with all the theological clutter, philosophical baggage, political correctness and magical thinking that has been brought into it over the past 2,000 years, still has lots of good stuff left in it. By itself, it would be a sufficient code for everyone in the world. However, when stripped of all that silliness, it has much in common with the basic precepts of most other faiths, so there's really no need to get pushy about that. Probably better to respect the rights of others to cling to their own traditions, and hope that they also might concentrate on the fundamentals and eschew the obfuscations brought into theirs over the generations.
I have other work in process, however. I'm no spring chicken; do I have time for this? I checked DeathClock.Com and find that as things stand I have until Friday, July 5, 2013 to get the job done. According to the clock, I could squeeze out another year by getting my BMI down to "<25". That would extend my life to Saturday, July 5, 2014. Would it be worth it; beating my brains out and depriving myself of such pleasures as an occasional beer or ice cream to loose 70 pounds, just to gain another 31,500 seconds?
Nah, I don't think so.
[-=glw=-]
The sermons of late have cast aspersions on other faith traditions, and even on other denominations within our own faith. That's personally rather irritating, since our son-in-law, for example, is Asian and of the Buddhist persuasion. This does not square with our Presbyterian philosophy of tolerance and inclusiveness, and I find it unnecessary and distasteful. There are lots of other things one can pick on. Ironically, he's one of the "members of the military" whom the congregation has been dutifully praying for every Sunday since the beginning of the Bush wars. I suppose we should make his faith orientation known so we could stop wasting our prayers on him.
This week it was the Pope. Last week it was non-Christians, and even the Dalai Lama. I don't suppose anyone's going to get their back up over digs at Benedict; he has never come across as a person in need of one's loyalty and support. He looks mean-spirited, and if I remember correctly, he was formerly John Paul's "enforcer." But the Dalai Lama is such a nice man; relaxed and smiling all the time and saying nice things about everyone and everything. I'm suspicious of the motives of any man who would bad-mouth the Dalai Lama. Here again, there are a lot of worse people one might more appropriately pick on, indeed many of whom profess to be right-thinking fundamentalists and evangelicals. For starters, we could visit newamericancentury.org and jot down several names, then whitehouse.gov for a few more. Now that TALON has been shut down, I daresay many of these are certifiable "war criminals," responsible for the needless deaths and disablement of thousands of our own military people, and hundreds of thousands on the other side. But that's a rant I'll leave to others.
Were it not for the fact that we still have a minor living at home, I'm not sure we'd bother dragging ourselves out of bed on Sunday mornings to make the 9 o'clock "traditional" service and drop our $20 check into the plate. The services are usually uninspiring, and sometimes even aggravating. Probably about twenty years ago, an old preacher, addressing our congregation on the occasion of our then newly-hired minister's installation, mentioned that during his retirement he'd visited numerous churches, and found them all mediocre at best. His challenge was something like, "At this moment, ladies and gentlemen, you have an opportunity to rise above mediocrity." That was prophetic in a rather pathetic way; we've been increasingly mediocre ever since.
Nevertheless, there are still some useful opportunities for our minor child; camping opportunities, summer bus trips, the Wednesday evening youth activity, and all that. And then, of course, there is always the possibility of a death in the family, or a marriage. A church affiliation comes in handy at times like those. I suppose I should also think about Sunday morning coffee times after the service; that's usually pleasant. Sometimes you meet someone new and interesting, while other times bring a hug or a nice conversation with an old acquaintance.
Our latest newly hired leader is seemingly into the evangelic movement. Our other Sunday morning service is now billed as the "contemporary service." We used to call it simply "the second service". No we traditionalist duplicitously call it "the Hootenanny." During that affair, the old organ pipes are silenced, being replaced with guitars, tambourines, bongos, and unmemorable songs, and performed by sloppily-dressed people with sandals or bare feet. The lyrics are projected on a large screen, leaving heads and hands free to be thrust heavenward. I've never quite figured out what that's all about; perhaps a reaching out for the Lord? We use to think of that sort of thing as ostentatious. But who knows? Maybe the Lord likes hootenannies and writhing worshipers better than Bach and thoughtful reverence in His presence.
Most of us "traditionalists" are among the older members of the congregation. Newer members and staff people have neither knowledge of, nor much appreciation for, the sacrifices and contributions people in the "traditional service" have made over the years. At best, we're mostly seen as irrelevant, I think; at worst, as in the way. Perhaps, like many other PCUSA congregations, we're headed towards the EPC.
Anyway, I write about things that move me to the page, and at the moment I'm thinking about doing a book called something like "A Practical Faith for the Third Millennium." It would be a simple, common sense approach to -- Christianity, I suppose, since that's the tradition I was brought up in. Christianity, when one dispenses with all the theological clutter, philosophical baggage, political correctness and magical thinking that has been brought into it over the past 2,000 years, still has lots of good stuff left in it. By itself, it would be a sufficient code for everyone in the world. However, when stripped of all that silliness, it has much in common with the basic precepts of most other faiths, so there's really no need to get pushy about that. Probably better to respect the rights of others to cling to their own traditions, and hope that they also might concentrate on the fundamentals and eschew the obfuscations brought into theirs over the generations.
I have other work in process, however. I'm no spring chicken; do I have time for this? I checked DeathClock.Com and find that as things stand I have until Friday, July 5, 2013 to get the job done. According to the clock, I could squeeze out another year by getting my BMI down to "<25". That would extend my life to Saturday, July 5, 2014. Would it be worth it; beating my brains out and depriving myself of such pleasures as an occasional beer or ice cream to loose 70 pounds, just to gain another 31,500 seconds?
Nah, I don't think so.
[-=glw=-]
Labels: Religion
posted by BoysMind at
7:30 AM
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