[Dialogue] I went to church today

[KroegerD at aol.com]

It's been a while since I paid any attention to the liturgy at my local  
church.  In fact, it's been awhile since I've showed up. The poetry and  imagery 
are so offensive to me.
 
Yet, today, I found meaning and resonance in a bit of it all.
 
The Collect:  Grant us, Life's Force, not to be anxious  about material 
things, but to love things spiritual; and even now while we  are placed among 
things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall  endure, through the 
power of Manifest Love, that lives and has its meaning  within Life's Force 
forever.
 
Old Testament: Those that denied the presence of Love reasoned that  since 
"Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes  to 
an end, and no one has been known to return from Hades.  Come therefore,  let 
us enjoy the good things that exist, and make use of creation to its  fullest, 
as in youth.  Let buy expensive wine, and disregard the poor, the  widow, and 
the aged."
 
Thus, they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness  blinded 
them, and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped  for the 
rewards of living the loving life, nor discerned the prize for blameless  souls.
 
The Epistle:  For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there  will also 
be disorder and wickedness of every kind.  But the wisdom of Love  is first 
pure, then peaceful, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good  fruits 
without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest  of love is sown in 
peace for those who make peace.
 
Do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says "God  yearns 
jealously for the spirit he has made to dwell in us?"  But he gives  all the 
more grace; therefore it says "God opposes the proud but gives grace to  the 
humble."
 
The gospel:  The disciples were arguing with one another about who  was the 
greatest.  Jesus sat down, called the twelve, and said to them,  "whoever wants 
to be first must be last of all and servant of all."  Then  he took a little 
child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said  to them, 
"Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever  welcomes me 
welcomes not me but the love for which I came."
 
The sermon:  Playing off the gospel lesson  the priest  pointed out examples 
of how we often make assumptions about the relative worth  of various types of 
people.  We often tend to assign a cubby hole for  different types of our 
fellow humans.  Jesus was trying to make the point  that God's assessment of 
human worth of often exactly opposite of ours.   The priest suggested that when we 
embrace a fellow human whom we and others have  assigned to a lower cubby 
hole, we are embracing God.
 
The standard creed, eucharist, confession and hymns were not particularly  
noteworthy.  The psalm(54) was offensive and mean.
 
Never the less, worship caused me to reflect, and that is a good  thing.
 
Dick  Kroeger
65 Stubbs Bay Road
Maple Plain, MN 55359
952-476-6126  

"This is our  great covenant: to dwell together in peace, to see the truth in 
love, and to  help one another." James Vila  Blake


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