Sunday, April 13, 2008

The Shepherd's Gate

This Sunday's sermon was delivered by Fr. Dunbar. After an initial show of hands on who remembers "Morning Prayer," we were given a sermon about Good Shepherd Sunday which I found enlightening. As Bobby pointed out, Jesus never worked as a shepherd, but we have the image of Jesus the Shepherd ingrained in our traditions. I don't hear any hue and cry to abolish this particular tradition. Of course, that would involve renaming countless Churches, and smashing a horrific number of stained glass windows. Uh oh, there I go with that "don't bash tradition" talk again. I would spank myself, but then I might have to call DSS, and be taken away from myself. Bobby did make one omission which Charlie corrected in the announcements. Charlie pointed out that while we do not have a Good Shepherd window, we have a Good Shepherd Chapel and quilt. Oops.
Getting back to Morning Prayer, since getting dropped from the Sunday schedule, this service will not have a chance to be a memory for the next generation unless they participate in a daily devotion online or have the good fortune to live in a Parish where Morning Prayer is offered daily, and have the time to attend the service. Our youth are being raised to be predisposed to dropping Morning Prayer from the BCP of the future whenever they take over as leaders of the Church. Growing up, we would call the Communion Sunday "Long Church" and Morning Prayer "Quick Church." Today, we broke tradition and finished a full Communion service in 60 minutes! I believe this is a modern ECOOS record. We must have been wearing our new swim suits

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:28 AM

    "Our youth are being raised to be predisposed to dropping Morning Prayer from the BCP of the future whenever they take over as leaders of the Church."

    Just the oposite of the argument that our generation was being raised to be predisposed to dropping the Communion service from the BCP.

    You never know - maybe our grandchildren will be predisposed by current society's views that Marriage is quickly becoming out dated or disposable and they may choose to drop the Marriage Service from the BCP - ah - fodder for thought!


    C2G

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  2. "Marriage is quickly becoming out dated or disposable"

    What am obnoxious idea! Apparently, the empty miters at 815have chosen to post to this site.

    Get behind me Satan!

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  3. I suppose eliminating the marriage service would solve alot of "problems" some people are having with SSB etc. If we did away with the marriage ceremony, there would be no need to create new services for SSB, MPM (multiple partner marriage), ISM (interspecies marriage), IPM (interplanetary marriage). Taking religion out of marriage and would make it a purely civil matter (following the successful Soviet model), and then the next step would be to do away with any governmental involvement by eliminating the marriage license. Think of all the paper saved, after all a shorter BCP would result in fewer trees cut down preserving Gaia.

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  4. Anonymous9:39 AM

    Catoe - I have no connection to 815 and resent being called Satan - you may apologize at your earliest convenience. Your comment was way out of line and served its purpose - I am totally offended and my opinion of you and your views had only been reinforced.

    My comments regarding the removal of the marriage ceremony from the BCP were as hypothetical as the blogger's comments regarding the removal of morning prayer. Hypothetically marriage is going out of style - to prove my point - all you have to do is look at the birth announcements in the Herald - many of the new parents have chosen not to marry for one reason or another. Hollywood is also propogating the idea of marriage being out of style and unnecessary - I can think of a half a dozen "stars" who are having babies without benefit of marriage, or have been living with their partner for years without the benefit of marriage!

    C2G

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  5. Anon, I agree that an apology is needed. You were wise to suggest the next rite to go could be the marriage service.

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  6. Anonymous12:52 PM

    Don't get me wrong - I believe in marriage - however, I have my doubts about society!

    C2G

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  7. And when the Church follows society rather than shepherds society, guess where we are led.

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  8. Anonymous4:56 PM

    Oh - that answer is easy - they are all in congress right now! :-))

    C2G

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  9. If I misread Anonymous' comments, or if I misinterpreted the intent, or if I totally missed the satirical approach, I offer my honest apology. If you will indulge me, I'll simply lay it off to having had a senior moment.

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  10. Anonymous11:16 AM

    Much appreciated.

    C2G

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