As we continue to generate positive vibrational energies in our church, Mary Cat delivered a good sermon on beginnings and endings. She certainly ended on time. The beginning of Advent is near, death and birth are remembered, and new Eagle scouts are applauded. Only two quibbles. First, I always thought Jeremiah was faulting the priests when he chastises the bad shepherds. After all, aren't the priests the ones with responsibility for our souls? Mary Cat seemed to imply that political officials were the bad shepherds. The politicians are just responsible for taxes, national defense and other more earthly cares. Second, is there a bright side to death? This question was answered long ago by Eric Idle in this song. Watch it by clicking on the title (turn on the speakers) or go to:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo
Posts
Saturday – Pray With Expectance
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And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together
was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to
speak t...
1 hour ago
Eric Idle--though a bit sacrilegious--cracks me up.
ReplyDeleteAs to the sermon (blessedly succinct), I think that most politicians are merely bad actors, not necessarily shepherds. However, if one reads the daily news, particularly ENS, one gets the distinct impression that many of our priests/bishops have abdicated responsibility for their own souls, much less the care and feeding of ours. How do you trust clergy who suggest that Jesus Christ is not Lord and Savior? Or, who advise that Scripture is just a nice story and you can interpret it as you see fit in light of the current multicultural, revisionist milieu, rejecting all reference to tradition?
The clergy have learned through their 60's anti-establishment seminary training that salvation is yet another elusive unanswerable from the old curmudgeons. Therefore the shepherding of souls can be dealt with summarily by applying the old "don't bother me with scripture" "reasoning," or the new "Jesus was a radical who rejected the old teachings, so you should too" argument as heard at ECOOS. Now that the anti-establishment crowd has become the establishment, it will be interesting to see how they handle the inevitable waves of change that will dash against their ideals. At present, it looks like they will take people to court to defend their beliefs.
ReplyDeleteOops, I hope those were positive comments. If I have to double up on positive vibes to make up for any negatives, I shall.
ReplyDeleteYour observations and projections are quite accurate. Of that, I'm positive.
ReplyDelete