Now going into my second year as First Reader of Sixth Church of Christ, Scientist, Portland, Oregon, I feel frustrated by the prohibition of making any commentary whatsoever. This extends to what seems to me gracious human touches of noting the provenance of the hymns and solos, marking the occurrence of holidays, and encouragement of dialogue and clarification on Wednesdays. My first response (please, we CS try to respond always, react never) was, 'they're saying make the service as boring as possible; ritualistic, wooden, impersonal to the point of sounding like a recorded announcement.' This--ahem--reaction on my part was excessive. But we're working with texts written in obsolete and obsolescent languages; we're working with ideas that seem to have lost their currency. "Everlasting Punishment" is no longer a hot topic, not ever since the churches adopted the social gospel, wherein to follow Christ became to work in social causes for the amelioration of social ills. Not that personal salvation has taken a back seat by any means: it just isn't on the tip of everybody's tongue. These older ideas, however, are far fom irrelevant: it's just that the relevancy has to be explained and the texts explicated.
So, at the behest of a member of our church executive board, I will henceforth share my observations by means of this blog. This way, you can comment if you like, and I hope you do. Please, no personal attacks, 500 word maximum, one topic per comment--and of course, no obscenity and no profanity. Humor and wit welcome. Pictures and links? Email me first. Ideas expressed here are those of the author(s) and are her/their sole responsibility.
I've been wanting to do this for couple of years, and it's finally happening. Hope it will be rewarding for everyone.
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